How to Spot Counterfeit Money

How can you tell if money is fake? Check the bills in your wallet with these methods.

By Geoff Williams | July 21, 2021 U.S. News & World Report

Checking counterfeit money light. 100 dollars against the window in his hand. Check for watermark on new hundred dollar bill. translucence of the American currency.

If you hold the bill toward the light and there's no watermark or if you can see the watermark even without holding it up toward the light, then the bill you're holding is probably a counterfeit.(GETTY IMAGES)

It would be easy to assume that it's rare to encounter counterfeit money. After all, plenty of people rely on credit and debit cards and even cryptocurrency, and go long stretches of time without touching a dollar bill or quarter.  But cash isn’t exactly dead yet. Every week, it seems, counterfeiters make news throughout the country.

In Casper, Wyoming, the police are investigating phony $100 bills circulating. Counterfeit money recently turned up in Hartville, Ohio. Counterfeit cash was also passed at businesses in Lubbock, Texas. A local band in Richland, Washington, received four fake $100 bills in their tip jar.

So, yes, counterfeit crime is still very much a thing, and if you use cash in your day-to-day life, or even just occasionally, it may pay off to know the signs of counterfeit bills. If you want to know if your U.S. dollars are real or fake, use these methods.

Evaluate the Feel of the Paper

This observation is based on gut instinct.

“Most counterfeits are identified by the feel of the paper,” says L. Burke Files, president of Financial Examinations & Evaluations, a firm that does investigations, risk management and other types of consulting in Tempe, Arizona. Generally, fake money, he says, “does not have the crisp money feel and the raised feeling of the black ink on the front of the bills."

Files, who has been a financial investigator for 30 years, says that counterfeit money – in all countries throughout the world – is a problem. He also says that quite a few business owners unfortunately appear to accept – and pass on – counterfeit dollars knowing they’re fake.

“As one person told me, it only becomes bad when someone fails to take it,” Files says.

It's easy to imagine why a business owner might knowingly pass on a counterfeit bill. Often, when a business owner or consumer turns in counterfeit money to the authorities, they aren't reimbursed for that bill.

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https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2013/04/25/how-to-spot-counterfeit-money