US Money $ How to detect counterfeit bills?
Money Has been around for thousands of years. The first government to create currency was the Roman Empire.
Currency is A standardized form payment
Money Money is a medium of exchange and is an economic lubricant to avoid barter.
That there is a legal requirement that money can be used as a form of payment. (Barter slows business transactions.) This requirement is called Legal Tender
How to report counterfeit bills? Call the Secret Service! They are in the phone book, under Secret Service,
All counterfeit bills must be reported. Who ever gets stuck with the counterfeit bill loses. The US government does not replace it for you.
US Money is printed at one of two mints. Philadelphia, PA or Denver, CO (The San Francisco Mint was destroyed in an earthquake in It was privately owned at that time and was not making US currency.)
The Federal Reserve Bank (The Fed) The Fed has Twelve Member banks and uses these banks to distribute currency throughout the nation. Banks order new money and swap out old bills for new ones. The Fed will destroy old bills and ask mints to print more.
The Fed controls interest rates By destroying and printing money. It is simple Supply and Demand. The more supply, the less value of money. The less supply, the more value of money. Interest rates are the rent on the use of money
The Chairman or the Federal Reserve Bank is Ben Bernanke, one of the most powerful men in the world. The Chairman of the Fed is an appointed position and Ben just got reappointed.
To detect counterfeit bills, Cashiers must be fast in their determination. There is not a lot of time to decide or examine the bill too closely. Here are some quick and easy ways to detect counterfeit bills
Domestically Twenty dollar bills counterfeited most frequently Internationally its hundreds
Low Tech The feel of money is unique! It has a waxy sticky feel.
US Currency is made with Cotton Just as Levi Strauss makes long lasting jeans, our money is durable.
There is only one paper manufacturer for US Currency. It is Crane Paper Company of Dalton, MA
More low tech Red and blue threads (micro-fibers) are imbedded in all US paper money.
Know your portraits George should not be on a ten dollar bill.
Who is on what piece of money? Coins Bills Penny: Lincoln Dollar: Washington Nickel: Jefferson Two Dollar: Jefferson Dime: Roosevelt, Franklin Five Dollar: Lincoln Quarter: Washington Ten Dollar: Hamilton Half dollar: Kennedy Twenty Dollar: Jackson Dollar: Anthony Fifty Dollar: Grant Dollar: Sacajawea Hundred Dollar: Franklin Dollar: All the presidents
Low vision Old and new notes
Larger Portraits Oldest to “Big Head” to Newest “Colors”
High Tech The Watermark: While printers have used watermarks for centuries; Ben Franklin, a printer by trade, suggested using watermarks on US Currency. Only recently has our money had watermarks. On US currency, the watermark is a second portrait, seen when held up to a light.
Color shifting ink As the bill tilts from one side to the other, the denomination with color shifting ink changes from black to green. In the new colored bills, the shift is from green to gold.
The ink on US currency is magnetic. This allows vending machines to determine value of the bill. US currency is printed on only Intaglio printing presses. These printing presses are expensive and difficult to create.
Security Threads This is a Mylar strip that glows under an ultra-violet light. Fives: Glow Blue Tens: Glow Orange Twenties: Glow Green Fifties: Glow Yellow Hundreds: Glow Red
Intaglio Presses allow mints to create Micro-printing Micro printing is difficult for counterfeiters to re-create.
There are only nine engravers for all US Currency And no one engraver creates an entire bill