# I saw my first counterfeit bill
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 20, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140 "2009-01-20T15:46:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/21 "2009-01-21T04:21:11Z")
> [@Tristan](#):
>
> Don’t know if I believe him, but he did claim that he pulled it off at a casino, stating that he picked there due to the high volume of money movement.
I call BS. A casino is the \*\*last \*\*place one could get away with passing a counterfeit.
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### Author:  [@Fiona\_Greenlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiona_Greenlee)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/22 "2009-01-21T05:35:15Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#):
>
> My mom was a bank teller years ago (like, 38-40 years ago) and she was a whiz at pulling fake bills by feel. She was fast, too- flip-flip-flip-flip-PULL-flip-flip-flip-flip. Used to be mostly $50s.
I was a bank teller a few years ago and fake bills just feel _wrong_ - usually they are too smooth and/or slick. Even brand new crisp bills have a little bit of softness compared to other paper.
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### Author:  [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/23 "2009-01-21T06:15:25Z")
If you’ve never seen one, you’d probably never look. I got two $5 last year on a $10 lottery ticket from the 7-11, only one of them felt really soft. I figured it was just worn, but the cashier at the donair shop the next day said they wouldn’t take the [bills](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_five-dollar_bill) w/o the silver stripes on them. I commented to my co-worker that I didn’t know they came w/o a stripe, at which time he clued me in.
I ended up spending it back at the same 7-11 the next week, so the balance of karma was retained. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/24 "2009-01-21T06:29:55Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#):
>
> So…what do you do with the counterfeit bill if you catch it at the time of transaction? Say it is counterfeit and hand it back…or are you required to keep and report it?
I just say it’s counterfeit, show them how I can tell, and give it back.
Joe
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### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/25 "2009-01-21T06:40:04Z")
> [@twit](#):
>
> I have seen fake 50s that would have the serial number like the one above but then have E5 below it.
Most people don’t know this, but new-style bills are also coded by series. If it’s a 1996 hundred, the **second** letter of the serial will always be A, i.e. B **A** 12345678E. In the next series released (1999), the second letter is always B, then in the 2001 series, C, etc. I caught one fake that was decently made, but was something like a 1996 hundred with the serial FN12345678Q - not possible.
Joe
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/26 "2009-01-21T07:06:33Z")
Quoth **KnitWit** :
> [@](#):
>
> But what the heck do I do if a cashier hands me cash back and says, “This is fake.” Am I in trouble at that point? Do I just lose that money because I’ve been stupid enough to be taken by a counterfeiter? I assume so. I’d be hopping mad at that point. And there’d be no one to blame.
This is exactly why you should check for counterfeits if it’s a large enough bill that you’d be worried about losing it. Personally, whenever I get a $20 or higher, I always hold it up to the light and look for the watermark portrait.
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/27 "2009-01-21T07:20:37Z")
Why would counterfeiters change serial numbers? Presumably they’re copying the rest of the text and graphics somewhere instead of recreating them, so why would the serial number ever be wrong?
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### Author:  [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/28 "2009-01-21T08:14:06Z")
If they were to make 200 copies and they all had the same number printed on them they’d probably have to go really far and wide to get rid of any of them instead of maybe being able to pass off two in one place then go a not too far distance and pass two of another at a different gas station or convenience store if the person behind the counter is even vaguely awake.
And an interesting link to info on North Korea’s alleged [superdollars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superdollar).
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### Author:  [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/29 "2009-01-21T08:26:34Z")
> [@Tristan](#):
>
> I know a guy who claims that he printed up 2 $100 bills on his high end printer using some rather expensive paper from Kinko’s.
>
> Don’t know if I believe him, but he did claim that he pulled it off at a casino, stating that he picked there due to the high volume of money movement.
I’ll echo **Oslo Ostragoth** in calling BS on this guy’s story. In addition to a casino being unlikely to be fooled, modern printers and scanners (along with most professional imaging software) are designed specifically to reject currency images. Even with expensive equipment it would not be casual process; you’d have to be pretty dead-set on counterfeiting to take the time to circumvent the hardware filters.
Plus, I don’t think there’s _any_ kind of paper you can just get at a place like Kinko’s, for any price, that feels even remotely close to the material used for U.S. currency. Probably a good reason for that. 😛
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### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/30 "2009-01-21T15:03:57Z")
> [@Cisco](#):
>
> Why would counterfeiters change serial numbers? Presumably they’re copying the rest of the text and graphics somewhere instead of recreating them, so why would the serial number ever be wrong?
You’d think, right? I don’t have a good answer for that.
Joe
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### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/31 "2009-01-21T15:08:48Z")
I hate to point this out (except that probably no one here has the equipment to imitate it), but the film _To Live &Die in LA_ has an excellent scene in which Willem Dafoe’s character goes through the process of counterfeiting some bills.
It is, I believe, pretty accurate, and will show why a “high end printer” cannot do the job.
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/32 "2009-01-21T15:26:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Personally, whenever I get a $20 or higher, I always hold it up to the light and look for the watermark portrait.
I doubt it’s a good test. I got several fake bills over the years, generally quite poorly made (yep… I didn’t pay attention) but none lacked the watermark. That’s just too obvious.
I’m yet to see (or at least notice) a counterfeited € bill, though.
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/33 "2009-01-21T16:10:09Z")
> [@Cisco](#):
>
> Why would counterfeiters change serial numbers? Presumably they’re copying the rest of the text and graphics somewhere instead of recreating them, so why would the serial number ever be wrong?
Because someone might notice that they just recieved a bunch of bills with the same number on it?
I had a fake $10 bill one. I would have had no idea, except that I was in a club and it glowed under the blacklight.
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/34 "2009-01-21T16:14:11Z")
> [@Stealth\_Potato](#):
>
> I’ll echo **Oslo Ostragoth** in calling BS on this guy’s story. In addition to a casino being unlikely to be fooled, modern printers and scanners (along with most professional imaging software) are designed specifically to reject currency images. Even with expensive equipment it would not be casual process; you’d have to be pretty dead-set on counterfeiting to take the time to circumvent the hardware filters.
Not that I don’t believe you, but, I’m going to have to try that with my scanner and printer.
Although, I’m pretty sure scanning and reproducing the detailed engravings on the bill will product a distinct [moire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moir%C3%A9_pattern)pattern that will make the bills look fake.
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/35 "2009-01-21T16:29:44Z")
> [@clayton\_e](#):
>
> If they were to make 200 copies and they all had the same number printed on them they’d probably have to go really far and wide to get rid of any of them instead of maybe being able to pass off two in one place then go a not too far distance and pass two of another at a different gas station or convenience store if the person behind the counter is even vaguely awake.
> [@msmith537](#):
>
> Because someone might notice that they just recieved a bunch of bills with the same number on it?
I’ve known one person in my entire life who looked at serial numbers on currency. I bet there are a significant number of retail clerks who don’t even know bills have serial numbers, and an ultra-majority who don’t look at them. I’ve never paid for something and had the clerk go, WAIT . . . _let me check that these two bills don’t have the same serial number!_
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### Author:  [@Arglefraster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arglefraster)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/36 "2009-01-21T16:45:02Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#):
>
> Sometimes, I wonder if we have blind, fingerless monkeys working for us, considering the low quality of fakes they take…
At the gas station I used to work at, our 3rd shift guy took a fake $50. The manager showed it to everyone the next day. It was obviously printed on plain old printer paper, and it was bright neon green. And it was off-center.
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### Author:  [@twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twit)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/37 "2009-01-21T19:49:44Z")
> [@clayton\_e](#):
>
> And an interesting link to info on North Korea’s alleged [superdollars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superdollar).
We found some of these today in 100s.
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### Author:  [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/38 "2009-01-21T20:06:01Z")
> [@msmith537](#):
>
> I had a fake $10 bill one. I would have had no idea, except that I was in a club and it glowed under the blacklight.
They’re supposed to. Well, not the whole bill, but the security thread is specifically made to glow under a UV light, and in [different colors for different denominations](http://www.bep.treas.gov/section.cfm/7/35):
> [@](#):
>
> The thread in the new notes glows when held under a long-wave ultraviolet light. In the new $5 it glows blue, in the new $10 it glows orange, in the new $20 note it glows green, in the new $50 note it glows yellow, and in the new $100 note it glows red.
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/39 "2009-01-21T23:16:08Z")
> [@msmith537](#):
>
> Not that I don’t believe you, but, I’m going to have to try that with my scanner and printer.
>
> Although, I’m pretty sure scanning and reproducing the detailed engravings on the bill will product a distinct [moire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moir%C3%A9_pattern)pattern that will make the bills look fake.
See [EURion constellation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion)
Make sure your scanner and banknote are both post 1996 design.
---
### Author:  [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-counterfeit-bill/482140/40 "2009-01-22T04:25:55Z")
> [@msmith537](#):
>
> I had a fake $10 bill one. I would have had no idea, except that I was in a club and it glowed under the blacklight.
That might’ve not been fake.. I’m not sure if this is true, but a bank teller I know once told me that like clothing that is laundered with some types of detergent it may glow under a black light (try pouring detergent right on clothing instead of mixing it in with the laundry wash, sometimes it will be black light active). If it was washed in the laundry with clothes close in a pocket under where detergent was put it might glow. I was once in a dance club and pulled out ones at the bar.. I remember a couple glowed under the blacklight while others didn’t.. I doubt anyone’s out there printing up ones.
> [@twit](#):
>
> We found some of these today in 100s.
Really? What was the tipoff that they’re fake? I always assumed from the official remarks about them that they’re practically impossible to tell apart from the real deal.
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