Counterfeit $100 Bills that Are Impossible to Detect, and How to Spot Fake Money

The US Secret Service is warning businesses and residents in the state of Hawaii about $100 counterfeit bills that look and feel like the real thing, but are actually completely fake. Recently, gangs in Los Angeles, California have been charged with counterfeiting over $4 million in fake cash, and some of that money is turning up in the 50^th state.

According to people who have seen the bills, they are printed on paper that looks and feels just like the cloth paper that the U.S. Treasury uses to print real money. It even has what looks like blue and red fibers in the paper, although it’s printed on and not woven in like in real currency. However, it is impossible to tell at first glance that the bill you are holding is $100 of nothing!

Usually, when using a large bill at a store to buy something, the cashier at the checkout stand will use a special marker that turns brown if used on a fake bill. However, these new fake $100 bills are coated in a special chemical that renders the fake-bill-identifying markers useless.

How to Spot Fake Money:

Look for a watermark behind the head on the bill, security threads woven into the fabric (not printed on it), as well as clear lettering and printing.

The Secret Service says that “Each denomination, regardless of class, has a prescribed portrait and back design selected by the Secretary of the Treasury.

A real portrait looks lifelike. The Secret Service says that a “counterfeit portrait is usually lifeless and flat. Details merge into the background which is often too dark or mottled.”

On a real dollar, the Treasury Seals are printed clearly and look sharp. The Secret Service says that “counterfeit seals may have uneven, blunt, or broken saw-tooth points.”

The border on real money is unbroken. The Secret Service says that “on the counterfeit, the lines in the outer margin and scrollwork may be blurred and indistinct.

Serial numbers on real money have a unique font and are spaced evenly on the bill in the same color as the seals. “On a counterfeit,” the Secret Service says, “the serial numbers may differ in color or shade of ink from the Treasury seal. The numbers may not be uniformly spaced or aligned.”

History of Anti-Counterfeiting US Money:

The United States has changed the design of its currency numerous times to help make counterfeiting difficult.

1996: $100 bill got re-designed with a larger portrait in the middle.

1997: $50 bill got re-designed with a larger portrait in the middle.

1998: $20 bill got re-designed with a larger portrait in the middle.

2000: $10 and $5 bill got re-designed with a larger portrait in the middle.

2003: Five years after being re-designed, the $20 gets redesigned a second time with no circle around Jackson’s head and a more colorful design.

2004: $50 gets redesigned like the $20 bill.

2006: $10 bill gets redesigned like the $20 bill.

Did You Know? Trivia about Counterfeit Bills

Modern counterfeiting began with the use of paper money, and many countries used it as a way to attack their enemies. For example, the northern United States made counterfeit Confederate money to decrease its value and harm the south’s economy. Curiously enough, the fake money the north made was actually of better quality than the genuine money.

A List of 10 Famous Counterfeiters:

1. Upham, Samuel: The first counterfeiter of Confederate money

2. Weber, Wesley: Counterfeiter of the $100 Canadian dollar bill.

3. Murphy, Catherine: Made fake coins and was burned at the stake for it.

4. Arnaouti, Anatasios: A counterfeiter who counterfeited two and a half million pounds of money.

5. Abagnale, Frank Jr.: The movie “Catch Me if You Can” was based on how he stole more than two and a half million dollars using fake checks and eight fake identities, one of the earlier cases of ID theft.

Reference:

• www.secretservice.gov/money_detect.shtml