RAISE YOUR AWARENESS IN HOW TO SPOT FAKE BILLS

When retailers accept counterfeit money, they incur the entire loss. Despite the fact that counterfeiters’ techniques are increasing, faulty banknotes can be identified. Here’s how to identify counterfeit money and protect your company from losses.

Counterfeit money is a continuous due to trend to buy counterfeit money online. During the first three months of 2021, US Customs and Border Protection officials in Chicago, Illinois, recovered $1.6 million in counterfeit banknotes. Another $110,000 in counterfeit cash was discovered in California.

Unfortunately for businesses, not all counterfeit dollars are discovered and confiscated before they are distributed. When a firm accepts counterfeit money as payment for products or services, it loses the face value of the money plus any goods or services delivered to the customer who paid with the counterfeit $20, $50, or $100 bill.

Fake money appears in various states and denominations at various times. Because the purchases are minor and the counterfeit money denominations are small, business owners sometimes fail to notice the notes.

The Connecticut Better Business Bureau (BBB) was notified of a $100 counterfeit bill given to an unidentified retailer in Southeastern Connecticut in one case. The counterfeit currency originated as a legitimate $5 notes, according to the Connecticut BBB.

The BBB noted in an announcement that “the counterfeiters evidently utilised a technique that involves bleaching actual money and changing the banknotes to seem like $100 notes.” “Many businesses employ special pens to identify counterfeit currency; nevertheless, the pens cannot provide definite confirmation concerning suspected changed currency, and they are not authorised by the United States Treasury.”

Large bills, such as $100 and $50 bills, are not the only ones that get counterfeited. In December 2019, US authorities confiscated over $1 million in counterfeit one-dollar bills.

How to Recognize Fake Money

Business owners can instruct their personnel to scrutinise all bills worth $10 or more. They can contact the police if they feel they have been given counterfeit money.

Small business owners should be informed of the various methods for detecting counterfeit money. The Secret Service provides a downloadable PDF called Know Your Money that highlights crucial aspects to look for when determining whether a banknote is authentic or fraudulent. The Secret Service and the US Treasury also make the following recommendations:

Hold a bill up to the light and search for a hologram with an image that matches the person’s face on the bill. Both photos should be identical. If a $5 bill has been bleached and made to look like a $100 bill, for example, the hologram will display a picture of Abraham Lincoln, who appears on the $5 bills, rather than Benjamin Franklin.

Looking at the money through a light reveals a narrow vertical strip with writing spelling out the currency’s denomination.

Color-shifting ink

Holding a new series bill (save the $5 note) back and forth, watch the numeral in the lower right-hand corner as it changes from green to black and back.

Hold the bill up to a light to see the watermark, which is in an unprinted space to the right of the face. Because the watermark is lodged in the paper rather than written on the bill, it may be seen from both sides.

Security Thread

To see the security thread, hold the bill up to a light. On the face of a banknote, you will notice a tiny embedded strip going from top to bottom. The security strip is positioned to the right of the portrait in the $10 and $50 bills, and to the left of the portrait in the $5, $20, and $100 bills.

If you hold a $5 bill up to an ultraviolet light, it will glow blue; a $10 bill will glow orange; a $20 bill will glow green; a $50 bill will glow yellow; and a $100 bill will glow red if it is genuine.

Microprinting

The security threads have minute microprinting: the $5 bill has “USA FIVE” written on it, the $10 bill has “USA TEN” written on it, the $20 bill has “USA TWENTY” written on it, the $50 bill has “USA 50” written on it, and the $100 bill has “USA 100” written on it. Microprinting can be noticed on the security threads as well as surrounding the portrait.

Patterns for Fine Line Printing

To make it more difficult to replicate, very fine lines have been put behind the picture and on the opposite side scene.

Compare the feel and texture of the paper to comparable bills you know are genuine.

Understand what to do if you suspect false bills

If you feel you have received counterfeit money, the US Treasury recommends the following steps:

Do not endanger yourself

Take note of the passer’s description — and the descriptions of their companions — and, if possible, jot down their car licence plate numbers.

Please contact your local police station or the Secret Service.

Handle the counterfeit note with care. Place it inside a protective cover, a plastic bag, or an envelope to keep it safe until it is in the hands of a known Secret Service Special Agent. You can also mail it to the Secret Service office closest to you.

Remember, if you are handed a fake bill, you own it. It pays to be aware of the crime of counterfeiting when accepting cash.