How to recognize fake dollars from real ones. How to spot fake dollars

According to law enforcement officers, dollar bills of high denominations are most often counterfeited. It is understandable - why bother with a trifle, draw a “hundredth” like that! On the other hand, few people keep their savings in “ones”, or even “twenties”, the pack turns out to be painfully thick :) How to determine the authenticity of the “grant” and “Franklin”?

Let's begin with banknotes of different t release not only look different, but also have different security features.

We will now highlight peculiarities, which you need to pay attention to when carefully studying banknotes in 50 and 100 US dollars.

LIST OF FEATURES

Banknotes 1928-1995	Banknotes 1996 - 2003
portrait in the center	the portrait is enlarged and shifted to the left from the center of the banknote
seal of the Federal reserve bank(from 1928 to 1934 the outer edge of the seal is even, from 1950 - jagged), in the lower part of which there is the name of the city and state in which the bank is located, and in the center - the control letter of the bank	seal of the Federal Backup system(instead of the Federal Reserve Bank seal), letterpress printed on all denominations except $100 (intaglio printing)
bank check digit in the four corners of the banknote	letter and number that indicate the Fed bank
scalloped seal of the US Treasury showing a white shield, scales and key; white fields are filled with round dots; there is a curved ribbon and an image of 13 stars. Text: "THE DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY 1789", before 1966 "THESAUR AMER SEPTENT SIGIL"
at the beginning and at the end of the serial number are letters, the first of which corresponds to the control letter	letter added to serial number
The signatures of the Secretary of the Treasury and Treasurer of the United States are intaglio, except for Series 1935, 1950, 1953, 1957, 1963, and 1963A.
The inscription Series is made by intaglio printing, except for banknotes of the 1935, 1950, 1953, 1957, 1963 and 1963A series.

• blue and red protective fibers
• intaglio printing
• magnetic protection
• letterpress

• security thread
• microtext

Security thread

microtext

Water marks

DyeOVIR

visual hint. Where to find microtext?

Newer dollars

• an enlarged portrait without a frame and an image of the reverse side without an oval frame
• the image of stars and stripes, as on the national flag of the United States
• increased amount of red and blue protective fibers And security thread
• microtexts
• OVIR denomination color changed
• a background color design appeared on the front and back sides (for the 50 US dollar bill from purple to light yellow and back to purple)
• infrared-sensitive elements appeared on the front side

American dollars can be safely called the most popular currency in the world. It is not surprising that counterfeiters counterfeit American dollars more often than others. Since today any person can acquire dollars, store them, travel abroad and pay with them, etc., it is very important that during the exchange he is not deceived and not slipped a fake.

True, now counterfeiters have improved the production of counterfeit banknotes so much that only an expert can distinguish them from real ones, and even then with the help of special devices and equipment.

Fortunately, not all counterfeiters have improved their skills so much, therefore ordinary people, if they are attentive, will be able to distinguish fake dollars from real ones.

The authenticity of American dollars can be check in several ways:

To the touch
on the appearance
with the help of decals

You can also check the paper with special equipment- currency detector. This is the most effective method to accurately identify a fake.

Why is $100 of the new sample the most attractive to scammers?

According to statistics, most often counterfeited banknotes outside the United States are in denominations of . The first reason is that they are the most sought after in the rest of the world. Despite the fact that the degree of protection has increased on new banknotes, counterfeiters still print them. Why? Because still not everyone is accustomed to new-style dollars, and will not be able to distinguish the original from the fake.

$100 old and new

Machine verification methods

Such methods are the most popular and effective. There are special devices that allow using ultraviolet light to determine the authenticity of money.

UV lamp for checking counterfeit banknotes

Usually they are used in shops, banks and other establishments where they accept cash payments. These are special currency detectors. Infrared, ultraviolet light can be used. Under ultraviolet light, the protective strip should glow brightly.

Ultraviolet detectors are the most common. They can often be found in stores and other establishments that accept cash. Infrared are considered the most reliable. If you need to check a large number of banknotes and regularly, it is better to use automatic detectors. They check banknotes by several parameters at once, which makes it possible to identify counterfeits as accurately as possible. They check optical density, magnetic marks, geometric parameters bills, spectral analysis of paint, etc. Therefore, even if the fake is of very high quality, the machine will still recognize it very quickly.

Paint, print, bill paper

8 ways to distinguish fake dollars from real ones:

1. Checking by touch, you need to pay attention to the quality of the paper. Regardless of whether it is a new banknote or an old one, the paper will be durable, emit an appropriate, characteristic slight "crunch".

2. The thickness of the bill is less than counterfeit. In the manufacture of real and earlier, the paper is pressed, so it is strong and thin. Counterfeiters have poor quality paper. If there is a similar denomination of the same denomination and the same series and there is confidence in its authenticity, you can compare them. They must be the same.

3. Print to the touch should be relief. This is also a distinctive feature of genuine banknotes. For this, a secret technology is used, which, of course, is not disclosed to anyone. Therefore, each, even a small sign, if you touch a banknote with your hands, is palpable.

4. Despite their small size, even the smallest drawings, inscriptions printed very clearly without blur. And here on fakes they are often blurry. The ink on real banknotes contains small fibers. If you look through a magnifying glass, you can see them. The border should also be clear. On fakes, it is often blurry. The portrait on the banknote should also be clear, with detail, while on fakes it is blurry.

5. Serial numbers printed on both sides must be the same color. If the color doesn't match, it's fake.

6. You can also pay attention to the security signs. They can be seen if you look at the bill in the light. Only $1 and $2 bills don't have security marks.. The symbols on the security strip are readable on both sides and only in the light. Also in the light you can see a watermark that repeats the portrait on the bill.

7. Banknotes of 10 dollars and above have additional protection in the form of ink that changes color depending on the angle of inclination.

8. You can also pay attention to microprinting. You can only look at it with a magnifying glass to make out what is printed there. Counterfeits often do not have this microprinting, as counterfeiters do not have the technical capability to apply it to their counterfeit banknotes.

What real 100 dollars look like

What to do if you come across a counterfeit bill?

In no case should you store it, let alone try to pay with it for any goods and services. This is a criminal offense and a person can be charged with possession and distribution of counterfeit money. If possible, it is necessary to remember from whom, when and in what circumstances the fake was received.

Then it is necessary go to the police and tell them everything you know. It must be a police officer or FSB. If you find a counterfeit banknote, you should immediately put it in a clean bag or envelope, do not touch it. This is necessary in order to keep as much evidence as possible on it in order to find counterfeiters or distributors.

Sometimes people themselves, without knowing it, not being able to recognize counterfeit money, without suspecting anything, try to pay something off with it. And often they face serious accusations. In this case, you should try to remember everything, tell where, how, under what circumstances this bill was received.

See also a visual video on how to distinguish fake dollars from real ones:

Not every one of us in our lives meets with bundles of dollar bills every day, and when you have to do this from time to time, you start to worry whether this is real money or not? What should you pay attention to when faced with such a problem?

Banknotes new sample are almost never faked, since there is a protective band, because of which it is much more difficult to fake them.

Although there are fakes among them: scammers are betting that not everyone is familiar with the new bill.

Among the banknotes old style fakes are much more common. Consider the original banknotes in more detail.

Paper

Serial number

Numbering on both sides of the bill must be the same, all numbers must match.

The series must be at the same level on both sides of the banknote.

The letter and number below the numbering must match the order in English alphabet(A-1, B-2, C-3 and so on). The letter is the branch of the Federal Reserve Bank that prints the bills.

Print legibility

• Always very clear print. It is printed with inks that are not commercially available. When looking at a bill through a magnifying glass, you can see even inscriptions of 100 dollars, etc. In a fake, small inscriptions, as a rule, will be blurry.
• Volumetric printing. This is done so that even a blind person can determine by touch what denomination a banknote is.
• Rough print. If you run your fingernail along the collar of B. Franklin's camisole, he will cling to the pattern.

The inscription "100 dollars" on both old and new banknotes bicolor. If you look straight ahead, you see one color (green), if you turn the banknote at an angle, the color changes (black).

Faking it is difficult, so this is the first thing you should pay attention to.

If you hold the banknote up to the light, you will see:

"Frame" banknotes

If you take a magnifying glass, you will notice that the "frame" of the bill is very clearly drawn. Fakes will not have this quality.

Fiber notes

On the reverse side of the bill must be fibers: red, blue or green. Like pieces of fabric or interspersed threads. And this fiber can be picked out with a needle. On fakes, this fiber is drawn.

Types of fakes 100 dollars

1. They take a bill, in denominations of one or five dollars, wash off the paint from it and draw 100 dollars. This kind of fake will be more difficult to notice, since the paper will be real, and there will be watermarks, but they will be with the wrong photo and a different inscription of the denomination of the bill.
2. Draw two zeros on a one dollar bill. This is the easiest to determine.

If in doubt, you should check the bill at the nearest bank. There, for testing, devices with ultraviolet or infrared radiation are used. In this light, on the original bill, you can see the security strip to the left of Franklin's portrait, which will shine brightly.

And remember that in no case should you try to sell counterfeit banknote if you have it. You must contact the police immediately.

Few people today imagine how to distinguish a real dollar from a fake. In fact, being able to independently identify a counterfeit bill is very important. This is due to the fact that American banknotes are very popular on Russian market currencies in the world. It is not surprising that counterfeiters are increasingly turning to dollars.

The production of fakes is highly developed today, and even experts cannot determine whether a real bill is presented. However, with due care and using an ordinary magnifying glass, any citizen at home can detect a fake. How to do this and what to pay special attention to is described in the article.

If a citizen does not understand how to distinguish real dollars from fake ones, but it is required to purchase banknotes to make a trip abroad or to pay for a real estate transaction, the currency should be purchased exclusively in banking institution. As already noted, even an expert cannot always distinguish between an original dollar and a fake, and in a bank, a new banknote is checked for authenticity using special equipment.

In the absence of the possibility, there are several standard ways to identify a simple (and high-quality) fake. Options include:

1. feel the banknote
2. visually examine the banknote;
3. examine the currency unit against the light, for the presence of watermarks;
4. contact the bank, where dollars will be checked on a special detector.

The first three methods are the simplest, but the last option is the most reliable.

The main features of real dollars

The first paper dollars appeared in 1861 and even then they had serious protection against counterfeiting. Since that time, the bills have changed somewhat, but the counterfeiters did not waste time in vain. There are several signs that allow you to identify a fake from the original product. Let's look at each criterion carefully:

• The quality of the paper used. No matter what banknote in question- old or new, the paper must be durable and make an appropriate sound - a slight "crunch".
• Counterfeit banknotes are thicker than the original because real dollars are pressed and become very thin. Counterfeiters use poor quality paper and cannot achieve the same density of money. To identify a fake, you just need to compare a suspicious bill with a real one.
• The printing on the banknote must have a relief, which is obtained by using a secret printing technology.
• All the inscriptions on the dollars are very clear and without blurring, which cannot be said about fakes. This is due to the peculiarity of the paint used, which includes small fibers.
• The check digits and serial numbers on each side must be the same color and at the correct level.
• The bill must have special security marks that are visible through the light. The exceptions are the 1 and 2 dollar bills, where there are no watermarks. The microtext on the security strip is readable on each side and only through the light. On fakes, such text is generally absent.
• It is very difficult to meet counterfeit 10 dollars, since such bills have additional protection with ink that can change color with a different banknote position.
• Beginning in 1990, the $5, $10,20,50, and $100 banknotes began using microprinted 1.6mm plastic filament.

Only the main features and elements that you should pay attention to when checking are listed here, but there are also other subtleties that experts in this field are already familiar with.

What other features to look out for

There are a few more tips that citizens are advised to consider when buying and using American money. The most commonly counterfeited are $100 bills, while $20 or $50 bills are almost never counterfeited.

This is due to the fact that this denomination has been updated and users are not yet accustomed to the new look of the bill, which means that it is much more difficult to distinguish a fake.

Can the bank issue counterfeit dollars?

The probability that counterfeit banknotes may come across in a banking institution is zero. This is because the authenticity of each denomination is determined by standard scanning and the use of ultraviolet light.

The fact is that it is precisely such radiation that makes it possible to see the presence of a special protective band that begins to glow brightly. There are two groups of detectors:

1. with ultraviolet radiation - popular and cheaper devices, more common in stores for checking the authenticity of banknotes;
2. with infrared radiation - more expensive, but also more reliable, installed in banks.

Because in financial institutions regularly sees a significant flow cash receipts, most often there are used detectors that work in automatic mode and check banknotes at once according to several criteria:

• paper density;
• banknote parameters;
• the presence of the necessary magnetic tags;
• spectral analysis of the paint is performed.

Even with a high quality counterfeit, machines will easily detect a counterfeit bill, and the bank will withdraw it from circulation. In this regard, the probability of receiving an invalid denomination in the bank for customers is very low.

Where is there an increased risk of encountering counterfeit dollars?

People who periodically deal with foreign currency should know how to distinguish a fake 100 dollars from the original banknote. The reason for this recommendation is that you can meet a fake even in the most unexpected places. The risk of receiving a counterfeit banknote is especially high when making real estate transactions involving cash payments in foreign currency or when contacting speculators.

At first glance, it seems that buying dollars from such citizens is financially good deal, but it has a lot of disadvantages, including a high risk of getting a fake bill.

Using elementary ignorance by citizens, for example, of the dollar currency, counterfeiters foist various kinds of fakes on them. Most often counterfeit dollars, although this currency unit considered difficult to fake. One dollar bill is printed on a special paper containing silk threads and produced according to a special recipe, which is a US state secret, and processed with special inks. In its plastic composition, it has a number of signs that simply cannot be exactly copied. So say American experts. Since dollars have become widespread in our country, it is useful to tell something about these banknotes. And especially about how to distinguish real dollars from fake ones.

First of all, it should be remembered that in our country banknotes are in circulation in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 dollars. If you are offered to purchase bills of 1000, 5000 or 10,000 dollars, then you should know that these are fakes (in America it is forbidden to export these bills from the country). Basically, three types of falsification of dollars were recorded. The first type is a color photocopy. This kind of fake is easy to recognize: the paper on the image of the president's jacket and on the frame of the front and back sides - even and smooth - should be convex and rough to the touch. Check each banknote "for strength" by slightly pulling the banknote by the edges, as if wanting to stretch it in length. US dollar banknotes are made of high quality paper, so after such an "experiment" with real dollars, nothing will happen. If the paper is wrinkled in the middle or torn, then this is a fake.

When making the second kind of fakes, photo printing is used. The drawings are not very clear. A fake can only be recognized by carefully examining the fine details of the images. On the front side of the dollar, portraits of US presidents and statesmen should be placed: 1 dollar - J. Washington, 2 dollars - T. Jefferson, 5 dollars - A, Lincoln, 10 dollars - A. Hamilton, 20 dollars - E, Jackson, 50 dollars - US Grant and 100 dollars - B. Franklin. The shaded background around the portrait should be especially clear and clean. Often on a fake, the strokes merge, the background turns out to be dark, unclear.

There is another way to falsify the dollar, which is based on the fact that many do not know English and the order in which former presidents are depicted on banknotes of the corresponding denomination. Counterfeiters convert a ten dollar bill into a hundred dollar bill by changing the denomination. This is done quite simply. They buy Finnish especially thin, opaque paper, get a copy of a 100 dollar bill on a photocopier, and then carefully cut out all the numbers “100” from it. They are also carefully glued with special glue to the place in the ten-dollar bill where the number "10" is. And a ten dollar bill miraculously turns into a hundred dollar bill.

Sometimes the words “Ten dollars”, which means “ten dollars”, and the image of President Hamilton remained on the banknote, while on the one hundred dollar banknote the image of B. Franklin, but these, as they say, are details. A one dollar bill is counterfeited with a "10" sticker.

Thus, the real American banknote, as it was, has remained: both paper, and almost all security signs and the like.

Is it possible to detect a fake by touch? Since the numbers are pasted on both sides of the banknote, these places should be thickened! It is almost impossible to do this.

There remains the question of the secrecy of the paper. Many years ago, the Americans bought a large shipment of a special kind of silk from Japan. In the manufacture of dollars, silk is crushed to microscopic fibers. Then, together with multi-colored synthetic particles, it is added in a certain proportion to the liquid paper mass and thoroughly mixed. These tiny colored inclusions of silk and synthetic fabric are also the hallmarks of American paper money.

Serial number - banknotes begin with a code number located at the four corners of the bill. The series and number of the banknote must be of the same color as the treasury seal. It is necessary to carefully study the small details of the pattern on the reverse side of the banknote. For example, at five dollar bill the Lincoln Memorial is shown. Attention should be paid to the shadow from the vase falling on the steps of the memorial, and the light shadow of a person between the columns. The US Treasury building is perfectly depicted on the ten dollar bill, and there should be four cars near it. On the twenty-dollar bill, the bars and curtains on the windows of the White House are clearly visible, on the real hundred-dollar bill - the clock on the tower of the Palace of Independence, which shows 16 hours and 10 minutes. Now on the hundred dollar bill there are changes that are invisible to the naked eye. These include a small polyester thread interspersed in banknotes and the line "United States of America". The line is printed so small that it is not yet possible to copy it - dopinfo.ru. On a hundred dollar bill, special attention should be paid to a synthetic twist stretched through the entire banknote of 100. There is a finely-finely written inscription: “100 USA 100 USA, 100 USA”. On counterfeit banknotes, this inscription is indistinguishable and is a solid line, even when viewed through a strong microscope.

It is often asked why the dollar is still denoted by the Latin letter "$" crossed out by two vertical lines. This sign is derived from the Spanish or Mexican "peso" or "piastre", which is abbreviated as "P. S." In the beginning, he was also portrayed as "P. S.", then "S" began to overlap with "P". In the end, there was one "S" with two vertical lines.

The dollar has a magnetic defense that counterfeiters have learned to overcome. They just put magnetic dust on a fake dollar bill and the magnetic counter goes off the charts.

In the USA, they invented a special device called the Validator. If a genuine banknote is damaged through it, the signal lamp of the device flashes. The "validator" operates on the principle of magnetic recording: its magnetic head interacts with iron oxides, which contain dyes used in the manufacture of American money. At the same time, the head measures the distance between the borders of the pattern. According to all these indicators, a conclusion is made about the authenticity of money.
An interesting detector in the form of an ordinary felt-tip pen, created by the company "Mobile Importing". It allows you to quickly, with high accuracy and reliability, check the authenticity of the banknote. In fact, this is a mini-laboratory. At the slightest touch of the marker to the banknote, a colored mark appears. Depending on its color, it is immediately determined whether it is a genuine banknote or a fake one. If the label is amber, then the dollar is genuine. If the mark appears in dark colors black or dark brown, then the dollar is drawn. The trace from the amber-yellow image will disappear within a few hours, but the black remains, does not disappear at all.

Interestingly, fake detectors have already appeared to identify fake documents. In order to avoid mistakes when purchasing a detector, it is best to buy it in a store, and not on hand.

In exchange offices and large stores, Cash Scan and Super Scan devices are widely used.

In forensic laboratories, a universal banknote detector, a banknote authenticity control device, a luminescent magnifier, and a magneto-optical banknote detector are often found.

At first, they "caught" almost all the counterfeit dollars. Then the obvious happened: the counterfeiters carefully studied these devices and began to counterfeit dollars with the exact observance of the parameters by which they were rejected by the devices. It makes no sense to talk about complex aggregates for determining the authenticity of currencies at a price of 400,000 dollars and up to a million. Their work is impeccable, but the price bites. Only large banks can afford to buy these machines.

Lawlessness in counterfeiting is trying to establish a radical restructuring of the monetary system. This renewal process is almost continuous. For example, in September 2004, the US Treasury issued new banknote denomination of 50 dollars. The new banknote, unlike its predecessor, has practically lost the green color characteristic of the American currency. Her palette contains red, blue and sand tones.

Compliance of portraits and images on the back of banknotes with the denomination of banknotes:

Correspondence of alphanumeric designations to US reserve banks that issue banknotes:

Basic principles for determining the authenticity of a dollar bill

New 100 US dollars blue

Since February 2011, the US has introduced new banknote worth one hundred dollars.

The new $100 was due to go into circulation in February 2011. But four months before the release, the Fed admitted that they had encountered technical difficulties: the trial notes were unusable. It took the Fed 2.5 years to solve the problems, and the new banknotes were put into circulation by the US Federal Reserve only on October 8, 1013.

The banknote received not only an atypical design for an "American", but also the most advanced developments such as 3D elements. So it will be much more difficult to fake a novelty.

The banknote changed its usual gray-green color: the new Franklins received a blue three-dimensional ribbon and copper-colored holograms. The holographic images on this banknote are special - for the first time they are not printed on paper, but "weaved" into it.

$100 bills are the most widely circulated in the world - and therefore the most counterfeited. The Fed hopes that the change in printing technology will make life difficult for scammers.

Americans rarely hold hundred dollar bills in their hands. Overseas in the course of the "five" and "twenty". But in Russia, a 100-dollar bill is the most popular.

Of course, the new hundred-dollar banknote has retained its face - it still adorns the image of one of the founding fathers of the United States, Benjamin Franklin. But the new money can no longer be called "green" - rather light blue. And in general, the developers of the new design tried to get away from the usual monochrome solution. The banknote abounds not only with colored details, but also with chameleon elements (for example, the image of a bell in an inkwell and the number "100" placed next to the portrait of Franklin and the number "100" change color from copper to green when tilted). All to protect against counterfeiters.

New "one hundred dollars", according to the Deputy Director of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve, Michael Lambert, will be one of the most secure in the world. It took about a decade to develop protection elements. So, when creating a banknote of a new sample, the most advanced technological developments were involved. The use of almost a million microlenses woven into the paper creates the illusion of movement of the number "100" and the images of bells on the face of the banknote. In addition to 3D images, watermarks, a 3D security thread, color shifting images, embossed prints, microprinting, and more are used.

New degrees of protection:

Blue note: 3D blue security tape

When turned, the bells depicted on it change to the number 100

ONE HUNDRED USA inscription along the golden feather

To the right of the image of Benjamin Franklin is a watermark with his own image.

Franklin's collar reads THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Objects depicted on the banknote change colors when rotated