Facts About Counterfeit Money
Counterfeit money has been around for nearly as long as the real deal. When the first coins were minted several thousand years ago, the value of the coin was based on the intrinsic value of the metal. Counterfeiters would scrape off small amounts of precious metal from legitimate coins and use it to cover a cheap base metal and pass it off as a higher value coin. Since then, counterfeit money has evolved into a huge black market, with an estimate of over $200 million circulating the U.S. at any time.
TWENTIES AND HUNDREDS ARE THE MOST COUNTERFEITED AMERICAN BILLS.
According to a 2013 Reuters report, $20 bills are the most common counterfeited bills in the United States, but internationally, it’s all about the Benjamins due to the bill’s broad circulation. To fight counterfeiting, U.S. bills are designed with a number of security features to verify their authenticity: Watermarks that can be seen when the bill is held up to the light; security threads that can be seen when held up to an ultraviolet light (on counterfeits, they appear as a thin line); color-shifting ink; raised printing; and more. A redesigned version of the $100 bill, which took a decade to create and was released the same year as the Reuters report, featured two security features new to that bill: a 3D security ribbon with images of bells and 100s on it, and a color-changing bell in an inkwell. Read fake euros
YOU CAN GET THEM FROM BANKS.
You might imagine that bank employees would be the best at spotting fake money, but on occasion, even they pass on counterfeit bills. When William Hagman, a retired history teacher, withdrew withdraw $2500 in $50s and $100s from his Denville, New Jersey TD Bank account in 2012, he — and the bank — had no idea that one of the bills wasn’t legit. Hagman got that nasty surprise when he tried to deposit the money into his Bank of America account. One of the $100 bills was counterfeit, the bank told him, and they couldn’t deposit it. After filling out forms, Hagman found himself back at TD Bank to ask for a new, legit bill — but while the bank’s supervisor admitted their mistake in handing him the forged note, she wouldn’t exchange it because of bank policy.
A creditor reported a similar situation in 2015, this time with a Chase bank — and, as in Hagman’s incident, the bank wouldn’t replace the bill. When a customer leaves the bank, the money becomes his or her property, and banks have no way of knowing what the customer does with the money once they leave the premises. To protect themselves against people who might abuse fake cash refunds, many banks have strict policies on refunding bills — which is why it’s a good idea to examine notes before you leave the building.
TECHNOLOGY IS HELPING COUNTERFEITERS MAKE MORE BELIEVABLE FAKE BILLS.
It’s tempting to think that fake bills are no longer an issue thanks to advances in security features and detection technology, but it’s actually the other way around: Now, with the ability to buy inkjet printers for cheap, more people are making counterfeits than they were years ago.
All it takes to set up a counterfeiting operation is a few hundred bucks. In 2014, Bloomberg News reported on Tarshema Brice, a Richmond, Virginia-based hairstylist and janitor who produced between $10,000 and $20,000 in fake bills over the course of two years. Her scheme was simple: Brice took $5 bills and soaked them in a degreaser, then scrubbed off the ink with a toothbrush and let them dry. Next, she used a Hewlett-Packer ink jet printer to print images she’d scanned of $50 and $100 notes onto the blank bills. She was caught in 2013 and pleaded guilty to counterfeiting in May 2014.
But Brice’s operation was chump change compared to Albert Talton’s. According to WIRED, the Lawndale, California resident was responsible for putting more than $7 million in fake bills into circulation between 2004 and 2008. He pulled it off, in part, using ink jet and laser printers he bought at his local Staples store. He also used a variety of clever tricks: First Talton took two sheets of newspaper, which he discovered passed the counterfeit pen test, and printed imitation watermarks and security strips on the inside of one piece. Next, he glued another sheet of newspaper to the watermarked sheet. Then, he would print images of bills onto the front and back of the sheets; finally, he cut the notes of his funny money to size. Talton’s bills circulated nationwide and in nine countries overseas; the counterfeiter was sentenced to more than nine years in prison in 2009.
