Real Life: Counterfeiting 101 & covering your ass

[Libertytree]

First off..I've been handling money for 30 years via retail and have a great eye for the details of fiat dollars, especially in recessions where counterfeit money tends to crop up more often. Since 08 though I've been even more scrutinizing, by not even accepting 100 or 50 dollar bills even from the banks in my personal dealings, I do at work through the use of a special pen but in these cases it has been relegated to 50's & 100's unless one (20) looked really circumspect.

Today that changed!

I cashed my check today from last nights deposit, took it all in 20's and then later proceeded to the grocery store for this weeks shopping and to my surprise one of my 20's is forged, even after me joking I just printed them just like the Fed does, lol. I offer up another 20 and go on my way. Now I know I have at least one bogus 20...time to head to the latino gas station. Now it's time to go home and look at the other 20's I have..as it happens I'm now the owner of 60 in bogus bills. The question is, what to do with them? Ya can't take them to a bank, they'll just confiscate them and you're left shit out of luck. So, I still have 60 bux that I can't afford to lose, and lucky for me I can milk them back into the system over the next couple weeks per my job, otherwise this would be a whole LOT different.

This little exercise has made me re-examine some things, things I thought I was proficient at!

#1. Buy anti-counterfeit pens for my personal use!!

#2. Take only 20's & 10's, tested with the pens, right in front of them! Even if issued from a bank!!

I don't know about anyone else but if $80 is confiscated out of my weekly pay I'm fucked, at least short term. In these economic times I reckon I'm just sayin' DYODD, it's up to you. Today was a wake up call for me and now I HAVE to knowingly disperse those bills, just more living on the edge, woohoo! LOMAO! kinda.

[Cobalt]

They had quite a few of them come through this area last year and the local news did a story on how they were defeating the pen test, they take lower denomination bills and chemically wash the ink off and then reprint them as higher value bills.
The only way you can tell is to read the micro strip and notice the denomination doesn't match what the bill is printed as.

[Ponce]

You must always share what is given to you.........so..........pass it on.

[solid]

Libertytree, really sorry to hear about this. Makes you think it's all 'funny money' to begin with, monopoly money.

How could you tell they were fakes? I think we could all learn something here, dealing with cash, going forward.

[Antonio]

About Latino gas stations. Try giving a guy a 100$ bill and say: "Can I have 6 twenties?" Once in a while you`ll get it.

[Libertytree]

Libertytree, really sorry to hear about this. Makes you think it's all 'funny money' to begin with, monopoly money.

How could you tell they were fakes? I think we could all learn something here, dealing with cash, going forward.


That's the thing Solid, I'm very good at spotting them and I didn't catch them! The flag wasn't raised until I went grocery shopping where they pen 20's and up. We haven't (as a store) been penning 20's, only 50's & 100's.

Here's the other thing about it, if they could ever prove I knew they were fake and still spent them I would be as guilty as the people that printed them.

[gunDriller]

First off..I've been handling money for 30 years via retail and have a great eye for the details of fiat dollars, especially in recessions where counterfeit money tends to crop up more often. Since 08 though I've been even more scrutinizing, by not even accepting 100 or 50 dollar bills even from the banks in my personal dealings, I do at work through the use of a special pen but in these cases it has been relegated to 50's & 100's unless one (20) looked really circumspect.

Today that changed!

I cashed my check today from last nights deposit, took it all in 20's and then later proceeded to the grocery store for this weeks shopping and to my surprise one of my 20's is forged, even after me joking I just printed them just like the Fed does, lol. I offer up another 20 and go on my way. Now I know I have at least one bogus 20...time to head to the latino gas station. Now it's time to go home and look at the other 20's I have..as it happens I'm now the owner of 60 in bogus bills. The question is, what to do with them? Ya can't take them to a bank, they'll just confiscate them and you're left shit out of luck. So, I still have 60 bux that I can't afford to lose, and lucky for me I can milk them back into the system over the next couple weeks per my job, otherwise this would be a whole LOT different.

This little exercise has made me re-examine some things, things I thought I was proficient at!

#1. Buy anti-counterfeit pens for my personal use!!

#2. Take only 20's & 10's, tested with the pens, right in front of them! Even if issued from a bank!!

I don't know about anyone else but if $80 is confiscated out of my weekly pay I'm fucked, at least short term. In these economic times I reckon I'm just sayin' DYODD, it's up to you. Today was a wake up call for me and now I HAVE to knowingly disperse those bills, just more living on the edge, woohoo! LOMAO! kinda.

well, sorry to hear you got burned.

the pen is just to detect a type of paper. it's not that hard to make paper - there's a whole industry dedicated to it, with thousands of engineers and textbooks. but it takes a strong chemistry background.

i suggest using the pen and also inspecting each and every bill, of $20 or more. you look for the water mark, if it's a $20, it'll be a Jackson watermark. on a $100, it's a Benjamin watermark.

granted, the counterfeiters will learn to make watermarks ... i guess that's why the new bills have the mylar strips, the holograms, etc.

[DMac]

Funny you mention the bogus 20 LT, a buddy at work got one mixed in his change on Tuesday.

He showed it to me after the bill was rejected at a pizza shop. It was clearly fake as you could see a small white strip across the top, like it was printed by a fancy printer.

It was the first time I had seen a fake 20 in circulation.

Really sucks that you just have to eat the loss or try an weasel it back into the system.

[Glass]

Aussie dollars are all plastic with clear (conterfeit proof - yeah right) windows in them. I think I've had a couple over the last few years based on the surface texture feeling odd. Other than that difficult to tell. However there has been a recent increase in bad notes in the $50 denomination. Mostly in poor suburbs. Easy to tell if you spend just a few seconds looking at them. These ones seem to be coming from corner stores. About 99% of corner stores are run by imigrants from a particular part of the world. Problem is if you walk away with them then you are stuck with them. Best plan is to use them somewhere where it is busy and move them on.

[Libertytree]

First off..I've been handling money for 30 years via retail and have a great eye for the details of fiat dollars, especially in recessions where counterfeit money tends to crop up more often. Since 08 though I've been even more scrutinizing, by not even accepting 100 or 50 dollar bills even from the banks in my personal dealings, I do at work through the use of a special pen but in these cases it has been relegated to 50's & 100's unless one (20) looked really circumspect.

Today that changed!

I cashed my check today from last nights deposit, took it all in 20's and then later proceeded to the grocery store for this weeks shopping and to my surprise one of my 20's is forged, even after me joking I just printed them just like the Fed does, lol. I offer up another 20 and go on my way. Now I know I have at least one bogus 20...time to head to the latino gas station. Now it's time to go home and look at the other 20's I have..as it happens I'm now the owner of 60 in bogus bills. The question is, what to do with them? Ya can't take them to a bank, they'll just confiscate them and you're left shit out of luck. So, I still have 60 bux that I can't afford to lose, and lucky for me I can milk them back into the system over the next couple weeks per my job, otherwise this would be a whole LOT different.

This little exercise has made me re-examine some things, things I thought I was proficient at!

#1. Buy anti-counterfeit pens for my personal use!!

#2. Take only 20's & 10's, tested with the pens, right in front of them! Even if issued from a bank!!

I don't know about anyone else but if $80 is confiscated out of my weekly pay I'm fucked, at least short term. In these economic times I reckon I'm just sayin' DYODD, it's up to you. Today was a wake up call for me and now I HAVE to knowingly disperse those bills, just more living on the edge, woohoo! LOMAO! kinda.

well, sorry to hear you got burned.

the pen is just to detect a type of paper. it's not that hard to make paper - there's a whole industry dedicated to it, with thousands of engineers and textbooks. but it takes a strong chemistry background.

i suggest using the pen and also inspecting each and every bill, of $20 or more. you look for the water mark, if it's a $20, it'll be a Jackson watermark. on a $100, it's a Benjamin watermark.

granted, the counterfeiters will learn to make watermarks ... i guess that's why the new bills have the mylar strips, the holograms, etc.


I haven't got burned....yet.

What I'm saying is that in every aspect these bills look legit, for every criteria, except the paper test. Obviously the larger stores/chains are on the look out for these and we as smaller businesses and citizens need to forearm ourselves accordingly, even in our day to day transactions.

[007]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3C3xhKROgMQ/SiFCRhqXQXI/AAAAAAAAA_E/4a2zan6Aj1A/s400/spread_your_wealth_around_obama_parody_poster-p228391338668254258tdcp_400.jpg

[sirgonzo420]

psssst....



they're all fake.

[hoarder]

So where do you buy the counterfeit test pens?

[willie pete]

So where do you buy the counterfeit test pens?


probably easy to find here's one vendor http://banksupplies.com/security-loss-prevention/counterfeit-detection/counterfeit-detect-pens.html I was in a gas station over a year ago now, guy comes in and hands the clerk a $5 for some gas and walks out to pump, but the clerk picks up a pen and swipes it, and what do you know? it's Bogus... :D..he runs out to the pump, GIVES it BACK to the guy and makes him pay him again....

[MNeagle]

Very unsettling they passed through a bank undetected...

Thanks for the info.

[sirgonzo420]

Very unsettling they passed through a bank undetected...

Thanks for the info.


They pass through banks undetected everyday.

[MNeagle]

& then I must imagine, through ATMs as well??

I can visualize using a tracking pen at the bank before taking delivery, but how do you protect yourself at the ATM??

[sirgonzo420]

& then I must imagine, through ATMs as well??

I can visualize using a tracking pen at the bank before taking delivery, but how do you protect yourself at the ATM??


I'd say by not using them at all.

It would be fun to mark every bill with one of those pens right in front of the cashier at the bank.

[Publico Pro Se]

So where do you buy the counterfeit test pens?


Go to the Office Max or Office Despot. Three pens for $10 or so. Found by the coin wraps.

Regarding the op, save the bill. Then at an appropriate time you can use the phony $20 to literally burn in front of someone. Burning money in front of someone can prove a point better than using the ol' Vulcan Mind Meddle, trust me.

[Neuro]

About Latino gas stations. Try giving a guy a 100$ bill and say: "Can I have 6 twenties?" Once in a while you`ll get it.
It's the soulless stare! ;D

[Libertytree]

Very unsettling they passed through a bank undetected...

Thanks for the info.


A few years ago I went with a buddy to his bank so he cash his payroll check, I waited in the truck and he went in cashed the check, came back out to the truck, was counting his money and noticed a couple of the $100's looked odd. He took them back into the bank and they promptly confiscated those same bills they had just passed to him.

Update: I just got through checking my other bills and luckily only one more of them was bad.

[hoarder]

Banks used to be very dilligent about checking for counterfeits. Maybe they are trying to create a problem....the solution to which will be a voluntary cashless society.

[gunDriller]

So where do you buy the counterfeit test pens?


Office Depot or Staples.

but they're only to test the paper and they're not fool-proof. they can give a false positive (tell you a bill is good when it's bad.)

that's the good thing about nickels - hard to counterfeit, have real metal value, easier to count than pennies.

no wonder the government wants to discontinue them !

why doesn't the government just make copper nickels ? it would be about 5 grams of copper, copper is $4 a pound (454 grams), so 90 nickels per pound = $4.50, the metal value equals the face value - what's not to like ?

[k-os]

& then I must imagine, through ATMs as well??

I can visualize using a tracking pen at the bank before taking delivery, but how do you protect yourself at the ATM??


I'd say by not using them at all.

It would be fun to mark every bill with one of those pens right in front of the cashier at the bank.


My credit union marks every one of those bills in front of me (and the camera) when I withdraw cash. I thought it was odd, but the teller explained to me that before they implemented that policy, people would walk out and walk back in with counterfeit bills. They had no way to prove that what the credit union had provided was genuine, which caused problems with the members. Now, it's settled before anyone walks out. (At least with the pen test.)

Libertytree's story makes me feel even more grateful for my credit union.

Everyone should ask bank tellers to use their pen when they are handing out the cash. They all have the pens.