What does she mean by that? The swine flu? No, I am referring to the infiltration of our economy by those who attempt to steal from all of us using fake money.I know there are lots of people out there that are innocent and don't actually know they have been passed a bad bill and consequently use it to pay someone else.
It is everyone's responsibility to know how to spot a fake bill right away so that someone is not cheated out of money at some point down the line, and you get in trouble for passing it unknowingly.
There are a couple of good ways of spotting fake bills. One is by the characteristics of the bill itself and the other is through the use of a counterfeit detection pen, where you mark on the bill with then pen and the color of the mark will pretty much tell you if the bill is real or not.
The Secret Service has a pretty good page detailing all of the physical characteristics of real money versus fake money. They include such features as:
The portrait Federal Reserve and Treasury Seals Border lines Serial numbers Currency paper The site outlines how to spot the difference and gives handy examples of real money and counterfeit bills comparing each feature side by side.
If you are not confident that you could tell the difference, even knowing what you are looking for, using a counterfeit detector pen will increase your chances of never missing a bogus bill.
Using one of these pens, you simply mark a small line on the face of the bill. If the line shows as an almost transparent amber, the bill is real. If the line is dark brown or black, chances are it is fake.
Don't get caught unwittingly passing a bad buck and do your part to erase counterfeit money makers from our economy.
All UPSable
