October 30, 2009

Counterfeiting, or the production of fake money, has been a problem virtually since the first currencies appeared in the world. In the ancient world, base metals would be combined with more valuable silver and gold in order to cheat people, or the edges of valuable coins would be shaved off to reclaim some of the precious metal. Today, counterfeit currency is becoming more of a problem than ever. With high-tech copy machines and advances in digital images, fake money is easier to make than in the past. Even though a host of innovations on the parts of governments have been implemented to try to put a stop to the production and use of fake money, as quickly as security features are implemented, counterfeiters set to work coming up with ways to circumvent them and they have become more elaborate with making fake money.

Spotting fake money made by an expert counterfeiter can be virtually impossible for the average person. Luckily, the majority of fake money in circulation is of a relatively poor quality, and can be caught by using some of the safeguards implemented by governments. Each government has different security measures in place to help citizens detect fake money.

First and foremost, look at the money you're holding to see if it is crisp and clear, or if it is at all blurred. Modern bills are incredibly sharp, and have a vivid, lifelike depth to them. The portraits should appear clean, the borders should have no smudging, the serial numbers should be evenly spaced, and the seals should have sharp points on the teeth. Next, examine the color of the paper.

Another thing you want to check for when looking for fake money is the feel of the currency itself. If you're not paying attention, you may not notice the difference, but if you focus on it, you can often tell the difference between fake money and real money just by the lesser quality paper, and the lack of slightly raised ink. In fact, the feel is such an excellent way to detect fake money that the government has not changed the feel of the paper, even through all of the other changes, so that the intuitive sense people have from decades of handling bills can still guide them true.

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