Two Fool Proof Ways to Spot Counterfeit Bills

Handling money in the workplace is stressful enough without having to worry about counterfeit bills. How can someone spot a counterfeit bill without expensive wands? Here are a few helpful hints of how to spot counterfeit bills.

Here are two foolproof ways of spotting counterfeit bills. The first is the strip in the paper, which all bills, but dollar bills have. The second way to spot a counterfeit bill is the green ink never dries.

Strip in bills - All the bills except for the dollar bill has a strip in it. The strip says USA and the denomination of the bill. This is impossible for counterfeiters to duplicate. The strip can be read when the bill is held to the light. Sometimes people will take the strips out of the bill, but money handlers can tell by the tear in the bill.

Green seal on the right - Every bill has a green seal on it (Treasury Seal). What most people do not know is the green ink never dries. To spot a counterfeit first rub your finger over the seal. If it is a counterfeit the seal will be wet and the paint will come off on your finger. If the paint doesn't come off on your finger, take a piece of paper and put over the seal using your fingernail to scratch the white paper. When you take the paper off it should have green marks on it.

Other ways to spot a counterfeit

The United States Secret Service has offered an important read　Know Your Money: How to detect counterfeit money. Most of these items the handler will really have to pay attention to the money and then, hope it's not an old bill that they are making a mistake on. One suggestion is to look at the paper. Paper is really hard to duplicate, but all the suggestions for paper could easily be overlooked by an untrained eye.

Other suggestions include alignment and boldness. Someone who has handled money knows that as bills wear, there is a fine line to the boldness. Anyone who works with money sees many different denominations in a day, as well as different aged bills. These are the people that need to have a way of spotting counterfeit bills without calling the police out to investigate each bill.

Looking at the portrait on the bill may give a hint of authenticity. If the handler is not looking at another bill of the same denomination at the same time, he or she may not see a difference. This is also true when looking at the Federal Reserve and Treasury Seals and the border. Borders are clear and unbroken. On a counterfeit bill, you may not notice this difference if you do not have another bill to examine it by. The Federal Reserve and Treasury Seals are also hard to detect. They are supposed to be clear, distinct, and sharp. The handler needs to have sharp eyes to detect counterfeit bills in this manner.

One good tip is if the bill has raised denominations on the corner. People will take a one dollar bill and change the one in the corners to ten. Most bill handlers will easily spot this because the denomination is written on the bottom of the bill. The face of the president will be wrong as well. This usually is not a common counterfeit offense.

However you detect a counterfeit bill, it is always important to remain calm. Never let anyone know that you suspect them of counterfeiting. Let management or the police handle it. Good luck spotting the bills.