Phillip Tilley

How to spot counterfeit currency

January 18, 2011 |  4 comments
Image Credit: Midjourney Phillip Tilley: Most people do not realize it but the Secret Service is not only in charge of protecting the President, they are also in charge of investigating counterfeit currency. This all came about during the first American Civil War when it was discovered the Confederacy was making fake paper currency to buy war supplies. In the old days of counterfeiting it was a tedious process where ink colors had to match pretty close to the real ones and you had to own a printing press. It helped if you had a good artist to engrave printing plates, but any good photograph of paper currency could be used just like pictures in the newspaper. There were other things, the paper had to be just the right kind and it was hard to get.

When color copiers became popular in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, they were so good at making copies of paper currency that each one of them sold had to be registered with the FBI and the Secret Service. If fake paper currency showed up, someone in the area with a color copier was usually the first suspect.

Today however, everyone owns a color printer hooked to a scanner and a computer which makes short work of printing gas and grocery funds. That is why in the last fifteen years the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the people in charge of printing legal tender, started changing a lot of the way our currency looks. All of the changes were an attempt to foil the efforts of the casual counterfeiter.

Because of the changes there are a multitude of methods to detect if paper currency is counterfeit. The very first is of course the paper itself. Real currency uses paper high in cotton fiber so it feels different and tiny specks of red and blue fiber are part of the paper. The copying process of a casual counterfeiter will print these on the fake currency as well.

This leads to a second test. Real currency uses intaglio printing where the ink is embossed onto the paper and gives it a raised feel. A computer printer uses ink that will run or smear if you get it wet. Real currency uses indelible ink which cannot be washed out.

Stores and retailers use a special pen to check paper currency to see if it is counterfeit, and it serves a duel purpose. If the ink smears it is counterfeit. If the line drawn on the bill turns black or brown it shows the presents of acid in the paper. Real currency uses acid free paper.

Some of the higher denomination bills have a watermark in the paper that can be seen if it is held up to the light. It looks like a hologram in the currency. The $5 bill has a large number five as a watermark. In the $10, $20, $50 and $100 bills the watermark is the face of the person on that bill. I cannot say Presidents on the bill because Hamilton and Franklin were never Presidents.

Ten, twenty and fifty dollar paper currency also have color changing ink in the lower right corner of the bill. It changes from green to black and back again when it is turned. No color copier or printer for home use can duplicate this feature. And of course each bill has a different serial number. Two bills with the same serial number indicates they are counterfeit.

The $100 paper currency also has micro printing inside the 100 on the bill. It says USA and can only be seen with magnification. It is too small for standard copiers or printers to duplicate.

The last feature is the polyester strip that is embedded in the paper currency. It is micro-printed with the denomination of the bill but more importantly it will glow under an ultra-violet light. The strip in each denomination glows with a different color. The pastor at my church said they accept all denominations regardless of color. $100 glow red, $50 glow yellow, $20 glow green, $10 glow orange and $5 glow blue. The $1 and $2 bills do not have any security features other than the serial number as they are almost never worth counterfeiting.

At a local strip club a man gave the stripper a $100. Because the stage was lit with black lights she could see there was no glowing strip in the currency and said, “Hey buddy, this bill is a fake!”

He said, “So what, so are your boobs!”

The main thing to remember is this is a guide for spotting counterfeit currency and the key word here is “currency”. It is easier to spot counterfeit money, it says at the top of the bill, Federal Reserve Note instead of Treasury Note. Wake up people, the money matrix has you.

Phillip Tilley is author of The Money Matrix of the New World Order and other articles.[!gad]Most people do not realize it but the Secret Service is not only in charge of protecting the President, they are also in charge of investigating counterfeit currency. This all came about during the first American Civil War when it was discovered the Confederacy was making fake paper currency to buy war supplies. In the old days of counterfeiting it was a tedious process where ink colors had to match pretty close to the real ones and you had to own a printing press. It helped if you had a good artist to engrave printing plates, but any good photograph of paper currency could be used just like pictures in the newspaper. There were other things, the paper had to be just the right kind and it was hard to get.

When color copiers became popular in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, they were so good at making copies of paper currency that each one of them sold had to be registered with the FBI and the Secret Service. If fake paper currency showed up, someone in the area with a color copier was usually the first suspect.

Today however, everyone owns a color printer hooked to a scanner and a computer which makes short work of printing gas and grocery funds. That is why in the last fifteen years the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the people in charge of printing legal tender, started changing a lot of the way our currency looks. All of the changes were an attempt to foil the efforts of the casual counterfeiter.

Because of the changes there are a multitude of methods to detect if paper currency is counterfeit. The very first is of course the paper itself. Real currency uses paper high in cotton fiber so it feels different and tiny specks of red and blue fiber are part of the paper. The copying process of a casual counterfeiter will print these on the fake currency as well.

This leads to a second test. Real currency uses intaglio printing where the ink is embossed onto the paper and gives it a raised feel. A computer printer uses ink that will run or smear if you get it wet. Real currency uses indelible ink which cannot be washed out.

Stores and retailers use a special pen to check paper currency to see if it is counterfeit, and it serves a duel purpose. If the ink smears it is counterfeit. If the line drawn on the bill turns black or brown it shows the presents of acid in the paper. Real currency uses acid free paper.

Some of the higher denomination bills have a watermark in the paper that can be seen if it is held up to the light. It looks like a hologram in the currency. The $5 bill has a large number five as a watermark. In the $10, $20, $50 and $100 bills the watermark is the face of the person on that bill. I cannot say Presidents on the bill because Hamilton and Franklin were never Presidents.

Ten, twenty and fifty dollar paper currency also have color changing ink in the lower right corner of the bill. It changes from green to black and back again when it is turned. No color copier or printer for home use can duplicate this feature. And of course each bill has a different serial number. Two bills with the same serial number indicates they are counterfeit.

The $100 paper currency also has micro printing inside the 100 on the bill. It says USA and can only be seen with magnification. It is too small for standard copiers or printers to duplicate.

The last feature is the polyester strip that is embedded in the paper currency. It is micro-printed with the denomination of the bill but more importantly it will glow under an ultra-violet light. The strip in each denomination glows with a different color. The pastor at my church said they accept all denominations regardless of color. $100 glow red, $50 glow yellow, $20 glow green, $10 glow orange and $5 glow blue. The $1 and $2 bills do not have any security features other than the serial number as they are almost never worth counterfeiting.

At a local strip club a man gave the stripper a $100. Because the stage was lit with black lights she could see there was no glowing strip in the currency and said, “Hey buddy, this bill is a fake!”

He said, “So what, so are your boobs!”

The main thing to remember is this is a guide for spotting counterfeit currency and the key word here is “currency”. It is easier to spot counterfeit money, it says at the top of the bill, Federal Reserve Note instead of Treasury Note. Wake up people, the money matrix has you.

Phillip Tilley is author of The Money Matrix of the New World Order and other articles.

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