Avoiding Counterfeit Bills

09-Jan-2012

Keep your eye out for counterfeit bills, particularly 20s, as one business has reported getting two within the past couple days. For your protection, you can examine all incoming $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 bills for counterfeit in one of several ways:

1. Look for a security thread (a plastic strip) running from top to bottom. Beginning in 1990, an embedded (not printed) security thread was added to all bills except the $1 and $2 bills. If you hold the bill up to the light you easily see the strip and printing on it. The printing will say "USA" followed by the denomination of the bill, which is spelled out for $5, $10, and $20 bills but presented in numerals on the $50 and $100 bills. These threads are placed in different places on each denomination to prevent lower-denomination bills being bleached and reprinted as higher denominations. Compare a genuine bill of the same denomination to make sure the position of the thread is correct. If it is not, the bill is not genuine.

2. Buy a counterfeit pen at any office supply store. The ink is amber on a genuine bill and dark brown on a fake. Here are a few available on-line: 

• ULINE
• Staples
• Office Depot

3. For more tips on how to identify counterfeit money, visit these websites: http://www.secretservice.gov/money_detect.shtml and http://www.wikihow.com/Detect-Counterfeit-US-Money. 

We hope these suggestions will help keep your business safe from losing money on counterfeit bills.