How To Identify Counterfeit Money

You’ve been working your first job as a CSR and want to learn how to identify counterfeit money in order to be on top of everything. After all, there have been many employees who have lost their jobs due to accepting a counterfeit bill. Currency counterfeit is a very common issue that is prevalent in every country. When it comes to US dollar bills, you have to be especially careful about the fifty and hundred dollar bills as these are the ones which are usually counterfeited. No one likes to be duped with counterfeit money. So it is important to know the techniques that would help you detect if the dollar bill you are holding is a real one or a fake one. Given below are some such time tested ways.

Spot the difference in texture

The paper on which real US currency bill is printed is not at all sold commercially. So, under no circumstances can the counterfeit be done on such paper. This means a different type of paper will be used for printing the fake currency. So, if you hold the real and the fake currency, you will be instantly able to tell the difference between the textures of the two notes. This is the most basic way to tell if the note you are holding in your hand is a real or fake one. What you can also do is compare the bill you have with another bill of the same denomination.

Mind the details

Right from the paper and ink used, to the printing done, real currency notes will have a lot of crispness and precision. The colors will come out sharp, there will be laminated ink strips etc. Now, most of the counterfeit bills are made on the computer and a printout is taken of that design. Since the paper and the ink used are not the same, there will be a lot less precision and a lot more flatness in the way a counterfeit currency looks. If you make it ap oint to notice certain details on the note, you will be able to tell if it’s fake.

As stated before, the fake bills are printed by laymen on normal printers and copiers. Hence, they are not the best replicas of real bills, but if one gives a casual glance, one may not really notice it. The counterfeit detector pens are a great help here. This pen basically contains an iodine solution, which by nature reacts with wood based paper. Real bills are made out of fibre based paper that is not sold generally. Hence, counterfeit bills have to use usual wood based paper. Now, if you use the pen on fake bills, it will react with the wood based paper and a black blot will form. This will immediately help you spot a fake bill. Learning how to identify counterfeit money can be easy but sometimes you aren’t able to tell. The reason for this is because banks are constantly changing the way a bill looks.

As mentioned before, real bills are made from fiber based paper. So they usually have red and blue fibers visible on the paper. In fake currency these fiber like lines are usually printed on. So if you check up close, you would be able to tell that they are not actually a part of the paper. As a result, you will be able to spot the fake currency.

Here is a helpful video that will help you learn how to identify counterfeit currency if you do not have a fake currency pen.