• Knowing Counterfeit Money

     

    Counterfeit money is a growing problem for retailers and financial institutions alike. Every day brings new stories from every corner of the country of fraudsters passing fake cash at restaurants, bars, shops, and everywhere in between. This, despite a number of sophisticated anti-counterfeiting features designed into the U. S. banknotes. The problem is that many clerks still have no idea what exactly these features are, and how to look for them. Understanding that, we only at Fraud Martial artist have made an easy, created guide on knowing counterfeit cash. Follow along through the five chapters of our guide, including:

     

    1. Serial numbers

    2. Color-shifting ink

    3. Microprinting & fine lines

    4. Intaglio printing and : most importantly

    5. UV-light reactive twine

     

    And you will be much better willing to find fake notes of a kind.

     

    Serial Numbers

     

    Every U. S. dollar features a serial number consisting of a two-letter prefix, and then an eight-digit code and a single suffix letter. The prefix letters run from "A" to "L", for the 12 Federal Reserve zones that print money, and are printed in dark green ink. Counterfeiters are often not aware of the pattern behind the serial numbers, and put out any random letter-number combining on bogus bills. Additionally, most counterfeiters have trouble with the spacing on the serial numbers. Look at the example from a genuine $100 bill, below. Note the darkish-green color of the writing, and the even spaces between the numbers and letters.

     

    Pay particular attention to the green ink used to print seals and serial numbers on the bank notes: counterfeiters oftentimes cannot replicate the colors as used by the U. S. Treasury. The color come with the serial number should be dark green and consistent throughout the entire serial number. There should be no color fading or chipping. The color should match the ink used for printing the Treasury Seal off. The numbers should be consistently spaced and level.

     

    Now let's look at a fake bill.

     

    Right away you can see the lighter shade of green come with the serial numbers. This is the reason counterfeiters prefer to spend their bills in dimly lit locations, like bars. Also notice the wear on the "0" towards the top row, another sure sign of tampering. Finally, notice how off the spacing is: on genuine currency, you would never see the second row indented to the right and placed so far down on the bill that it almost overlaps with the seal off. Anytime you observe any unusual spacing of this sort, you are almost certainly dealing with a forgery.

     

    Color-shifting Numbers

     

    Below is a closeup of one of the most difficult to replicate printed security features on US banknotes : the color-shifting ink come with the numerals located in the lower-right corner on the front of the bill.

     

    On genuine banknotes of denominations $10 or higher the green color will "shift" to black or office assistant as you tilt the bill vertically forward and backward to change the viewing angle. From 1996, when this feature was introduced, until 2003, the color changed from green to black. Updates 2006 and later change from green to office assistant (you can always check the edition year on the bottom of the front side of the bill).

     

    This next picture is from a counterfeit bill. Even as it would look the same as the last one when viewed from a straight-on angle, the color does not change as you tilt and move it around.

     

    The "optically variable ink", as it is technically called, used to produce this effect is not widely retail available. Most of it comes from a Europe manufacturer SICPA, which granted the U. S. exclusive the law to the green-and-black and green-and-copper ink used for printing dollars. Fraudsters cannot get it at any store; nor can they create the effect with any copiers, which only "see" and duplicate patterns from a fixed angle.

     

    Microprinting & Fine Lines

     

    The dollar printing machinery allowing use of rainbow color-changing ink can also create some extremely fine printed detail around the portraits. This kind of precision is hard to match with regular printers and copiers; attempts to do so usually result in smudging, blurring and general lack of sharpness. SSD chemical solution for sale As an example, take a look at this detail from a real $100 note.

     

    A thin layer of microprinting can be seen in the lapel of Franklin's jacket. Fine lines that almost look like threads in the jacket run horizontally across the portrait, and the words "The United states of America" appear around the back of the shirt.

     

    Similar microprinting also appears with the words "USA 100" inside the variety of the cheaper left "100" of the bill. Fine details of this type are created by stamping ink in some recoverable format using steel plates at very high stress, and are quite difficult to accurately replicate. The process, called intaglio printing, also produces an embossed raised-ink feel to the paper: you can literally feel the picture by moving your hands over it.

     

    The microprinting locations and words differ for each denomination. More importantly than remembering the main features for each one, however, is looking over the line sharpness with the bare eye. Counterfeit notes will typically have very unclear printing around the portrait. In most cases, the lines will be blurred, broken or even completely absent. A typical fake would look a product like the picture below.

     

    You do not need a magnifying glass to tell that something is wrong here. Anytime you see blurred or unclear printing around the portrait, even if you can't tell exactly where it is wrong, you are quite possible dealing with a counterfeit.

     

    Intaglio Printing

     

    The pushes needed to produce fine lines around the portraits are not the normal ones used for, say, newspaper printing. In fact, they have even a special name : intaglio, from the German word meaning to carve or engrave, which almost exactly describes how the process works for U. S. dollars.

     

    Where regular pushes need just enough contact to transfer the ink to the paper, the ones making the dollar have to be precise enough to fit the lyrics "USA 100" multiple times across the width of the digits in the $100 bill. These are not pure printed lines in U. S. dollars; they are essentially ink-filled grooves produced by very heavy (something on the order of 20 tons) pressure. The tremendous forces of the ink plates that force ink inside the grooves also create individual "ridges" which can actually be felt by owning a finger across the paper.

     

    Banknotes issued before 2004 had a frame around the portrait of the director, with circular lines running concentrically around it. The result, as you can see in the magnification above, is an incredibly detailed image. Although banknotes after 2005 dropped the square frame, they kept the details on the portraits themselves.

     

    Your typical counterfeit bill will not fully duplicate the degree of detail: it would likely have smudged or scraped fine lines and a smooth to the touch surface; overall, looking somewhat like the picture below.

     

    High-end modern copiers are getting better at reproducing the visual effect of fine semi-circular lines you see running around the facial skin, but without intaglio printing pushes, they cannot duplicate the raised-ink feel of genuine dollars. A smooth surface or noticeable breaks in the fine lines within the portrait are sure signs of a forgery.

     

    UV-light Guards

     

    As tough as all the printing and numbering is to replicate, the toughest feature of all is a simple plastic twine embedded in all bills $5 and larger : and you can't even notice under normal light. But place a bill like the 20 in the example below under an ultraviolet light counterfeit detector, and the twine lights up a bright primary color. If the twine is not there, or if the color is wrong, you have a counterfeit.

     

    Genuine U. S. money is mostly cotton paper and special ink, neither that support the glowing element on the twine, phosphor. Put them under ultraviolet light and they appear dark, emitting no color. The security lace, on the other hand, are lined with phosphors that sparkle substantially under UV lights, which each denomination glowing a different color due to the different chemicals in the phosphor coating.

    Five-dollar bills sparkle blue under blacklights. A $10 glows orange, $20s are green, $50s are yellow, and the 100-dollar bill will have a red rob. For more advanced security, they are slipped into different locations for each denomination : our QuickGuide has excellent easy-to-follow representation for both the position and the color for each one.

     

    UV-light security features can be used in many identification documents as well, with the same UV alarms that research for counterfeit money also for checking for fake IDs. Many government-issued identification documents : from drivers' entitlements to passports : now employ some form of ultraviolet light-reactive lettering or seals.

     

    Knowing Counterfeit Money

     

    Fraudsters never cease to create clever ways to make fake money with the newest technologies. The more sophisticated among them may even convincingly replicate a security feature or two : perhaps, the fine lines around the portrait or the serial number towards the top. But they'll not be able to convincingly replicate all five at the same time. Most importantly in checking for counterfeit is relying your behavioral instinct: if you are suspicious of a bogus bill, run it through one of the tests laid out here. If you are still unsure, run it by way of a couple more. Whether or not it's truly a counterfeit, it will fail one of them right away.

     

    Gary Satanovsky

     

    Gary Satanovsky is a freelance marketing specialist moving into Los angeles, CA. In April 2010, he joined UVeritech, a leader in multi-layer fraud prevention and counterfeit money sensors solutions, and currently controls the Fraud Martial artist blog and contributes to other social media projects for the company.

     


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