Counterfeit Money

Articles on Money | Topic: money

by Tacita Kinney

Although it is less common of a problem than it used to be, counterfeit US currency is still a big issue worldwide. Millions of dollars of counterfeited money change hands every year, subverting the ability of the government to control the monetary source, ripping off merchants, and allowing the counterfeiters to get something for nothing. Although counterfeit money detection exists, it is to it is not really used enough. The new series of bills are more secure, but if you use old counterfeit bills, you can probably get away with it – at least I have been told. For a long time, it was just simply too easy to counterfeit US money.

The most easy way of detecting counterfeit money is to look at the bills for the telltale magnetic stripe in the center. Although this only works on larger bills – 20 and above – it still is a pretty reliable method. The metal strip will be left in the middle of legal tender as a way of detecting whether or not it is legitimate. With counterfeited money – unless it is very good – there is generally no magnetic strip in the middle.

Nonetheless, good money counterfeiting can get past this problem. Some of the big counterfeiting money rackets can actually make extremely convincing bills. Counterfeit money is a high-tech industry and the people who do it are no dopes. Gone are the days of counterfeit bills that were reproduced on mimeograph machines.

Quote of the Day

Who keeps the tavern and serves up the drinks? The peasant. Who squanders and drinks up money belonging to the peasant commune, the school, the church? The peasant. Who would steal from his neighbor, commit arson, and falsely denounce another for a bottle of vodka? The peasant.

—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)

Because of this, you need some good technology to detect counterfeit currency. Although some of the counterfeit money detection out there is extremely expensive, you can catch most counterfeit bills with some very simple and cheap solutions. For one example, there is the counterfeit money detector pen. If you write with it on a real dollar, no line will show up. If you write on counterfeit money, however, it will leave a mark that shows that the dollar is no good.

Fortunately, new bills are much harder to counterfeit than older ones. Counterfeit money was such a problem that the US government decided to issue all new tender. There are watermarks, holograms, and other devices to make it much easier for people to detect counterfeit money. Unfortunately, not all of the old money is out of circulation now. Once it is, counterfeiting will probably be a thing of the past. People may try to counterfeit money, but I doubt they will succeed anymore.

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