OT: Anybody know anything about how banks detect counterfeit $100’s?

[PCinSD]

Thanks for the info Booter1. I just spent a bit of time on the Secret Service website reviewing all the info on counterfeits. The one thing they never discuss is the alteration of the watermark – the face on the right of the bill. That appears to be the only thing off with my bill, which is a 2003 series. I compared it to the other one I have (2006 series) and you can definitely see the difference.

It’s not a crisp bill, reasonably worn, but not thrashed either.

This is bugging me enough that I’m gonna call the local office tomorrow and see if I can get confirmation over the phone.

[ucodegen]

Can’t they easily use those counterfeit pen thingies I see grocery store cashiers using? I always see them using it on bills>=50.

Those pens are useless. They are a racket perpetrated upon the stores by certain vendors. All that pen is, is a ‘acid’ detector, or pH indicator. US bills are printed on low acidity custom ‘rag paper’. Most paper has a lower (higher acidity) pH than US bills, but ‘archival quality paper’ has similar acidity.

It would be better to outfit the cashiers counters with light tables. The security marks are easy to see when backlit, and differ from denomination to denomination.

For the experimentally interested:
http://chemistry.about.com/od/acidsbase1/a/red-cabbage-ph-indicator.htm
This is not near as sensitive to pH as the ‘pen’, but is fun for kids to play with.

[ucodegen]

Can’t they easily use those counterfeit pen thingies I see grocery store cashiers using? I always see them using it on bills>=50.

Those pens are useless. They are a racket perpetrated upon the stores by certain vendors. All that pen is, is a ‘acid’ detector, or pH indicator. US bills are printed on low acidity custom ‘rag paper’. Most paper has a lower (higher acidity) pH than US bills, but ‘archival quality paper’ has similar acidity.

It would be better to outfit the cashiers counters with light tables. The security marks are easy to see when backlit, and differ from denomination to denomination.

For the experimentally interested:
http://chemistry.about.com/od/acidsbase1/a/red-cabbage-ph-indicator.htm
This is not near as sensitive to pH as the ‘pen’, but is fun for kids to play with.

[ucodegen]

Can’t they easily use those counterfeit pen thingies I see grocery store cashiers using? I always see them using it on bills>=50.

Those pens are useless. They are a racket perpetrated upon the stores by certain vendors. All that pen is, is a ‘acid’ detector, or pH indicator. US bills are printed on low acidity custom ‘rag paper’. Most paper has a lower (higher acidity) pH than US bills, but ‘archival quality paper’ has similar acidity.

It would be better to outfit the cashiers counters with light tables. The security marks are easy to see when backlit, and differ from denomination to denomination.

For the experimentally interested:
http://chemistry.about.com/od/acidsbase1/a/red-cabbage-ph-indicator.htm
This is not near as sensitive to pH as the ‘pen’, but is fun for kids to play with.

[ucodegen]

Can’t they easily use those counterfeit pen thingies I see grocery store cashiers using? I always see them using it on bills>=50.

Those pens are useless. They are a racket perpetrated upon the stores by certain vendors. All that pen is, is a ‘acid’ detector, or pH indicator. US bills are printed on low acidity custom ‘rag paper’. Most paper has a lower (higher acidity) pH than US bills, but ‘archival quality paper’ has similar acidity.

It would be better to outfit the cashiers counters with light tables. The security marks are easy to see when backlit, and differ from denomination to denomination.

For the experimentally interested:
http://chemistry.about.com/od/acidsbase1/a/red-cabbage-ph-indicator.htm
This is not near as sensitive to pH as the ‘pen’, but is fun for kids to play with.

[ucodegen]

Can’t they easily use those counterfeit pen thingies I see grocery store cashiers using? I always see them using it on bills>=50.

Those pens are useless. They are a racket perpetrated upon the stores by certain vendors. All that pen is, is a ‘acid’ detector, or pH indicator. US bills are printed on low acidity custom ‘rag paper’. Most paper has a lower (higher acidity) pH than US bills, but ‘archival quality paper’ has similar acidity.

It would be better to outfit the cashiers counters with light tables. The security marks are easy to see when backlit, and differ from denomination to denomination.

For the experimentally interested:
http://chemistry.about.com/od/acidsbase1/a/red-cabbage-ph-indicator.htm
This is not near as sensitive to pH as the ‘pen’, but is fun for kids to play with.

[ucodegen]

Funny story: my wife thought I was a little crazy at first, but I sold a car recently and got paid several thousand dollars in cash. I tried my best to check the bills myself and tried to make sure I could track down the buyer if I needed to then signed over the title and gave him the keys.

Best way to do this is do the transaction when the banks are open and have the buyer write a check and clear it at the bank that it was written on (with the buyer there). Clear it by converting it to cash at that bank. They will immediately check the account it is being drawn upon for sufficient funds.

[ucodegen]

Funny story: my wife thought I was a little crazy at first, but I sold a car recently and got paid several thousand dollars in cash. I tried my best to check the bills myself and tried to make sure I could track down the buyer if I needed to then signed over the title and gave him the keys.

Best way to do this is do the transaction when the banks are open and have the buyer write a check and clear it at the bank that it was written on (with the buyer there). Clear it by converting it to cash at that bank. They will immediately check the account it is being drawn upon for sufficient funds.

[ucodegen]

Funny story: my wife thought I was a little crazy at first, but I sold a car recently and got paid several thousand dollars in cash. I tried my best to check the bills myself and tried to make sure I could track down the buyer if I needed to then signed over the title and gave him the keys.

Best way to do this is do the transaction when the banks are open and have the buyer write a check and clear it at the bank that it was written on (with the buyer there). Clear it by converting it to cash at that bank. They will immediately check the account it is being drawn upon for sufficient funds.

[ucodegen]

Funny story: my wife thought I was a little crazy at first, but I sold a car recently and got paid several thousand dollars in cash. I tried my best to check the bills myself and tried to make sure I could track down the buyer if I needed to then signed over the title and gave him the keys.

Best way to do this is do the transaction when the banks are open and have the buyer write a check and clear it at the bank that it was written on (with the buyer there). Clear it by converting it to cash at that bank. They will immediately check the account it is being drawn upon for sufficient funds.

[ucodegen]

Funny story: my wife thought I was a little crazy at first, but I sold a car recently and got paid several thousand dollars in cash. I tried my best to check the bills myself and tried to make sure I could track down the buyer if I needed to then signed over the title and gave him the keys.

Best way to do this is do the transaction when the banks are open and have the buyer write a check and clear it at the bank that it was written on (with the buyer there). Clear it by converting it to cash at that bank. They will immediately check the account it is being drawn upon for sufficient funds.

[ucodegen]

This is because the black ink is actually printed on top of the paper and the black ink is microscopically higher than the paper. Conversely, any green ink is pressed into the paper. If you can feel the ridges in the jacket with your fingernail most likely genuine.

Kind of. Some xerox process printers, particularly the organic drum types, will produce raised letters under some circumstances, but they will not be able to produce the level green ink. No printers can produce the watermark. That is ‘in’ the paper. The xerox process prints are not as ‘stable’ as the US bill printing. I have had the ‘print’ peeled off a piece of paper by volatile compounds in plastic binders. That is because the ‘print’ on xerox process is actually fused plastic ‘dust’ on the surface of paper.

[ucodegen]

This is because the black ink is actually printed on top of the paper and the black ink is microscopically higher than the paper. Conversely, any green ink is pressed into the paper. If you can feel the ridges in the jacket with your fingernail most likely genuine.

Kind of. Some xerox process printers, particularly the organic drum types, will produce raised letters under some circumstances, but they will not be able to produce the level green ink. No printers can produce the watermark. That is ‘in’ the paper. The xerox process prints are not as ‘stable’ as the US bill printing. I have had the ‘print’ peeled off a piece of paper by volatile compounds in plastic binders. That is because the ‘print’ on xerox process is actually fused plastic ‘dust’ on the surface of paper.

[ucodegen]

This is because the black ink is actually printed on top of the paper and the black ink is microscopically higher than the paper. Conversely, any green ink is pressed into the paper. If you can feel the ridges in the jacket with your fingernail most likely genuine.

Kind of. Some xerox process printers, particularly the organic drum types, will produce raised letters under some circumstances, but they will not be able to produce the level green ink. No printers can produce the watermark. That is ‘in’ the paper. The xerox process prints are not as ‘stable’ as the US bill printing. I have had the ‘print’ peeled off a piece of paper by volatile compounds in plastic binders. That is because the ‘print’ on xerox process is actually fused plastic ‘dust’ on the surface of paper.

[ucodegen]

This is because the black ink is actually printed on top of the paper and the black ink is microscopically higher than the paper. Conversely, any green ink is pressed into the paper. If you can feel the ridges in the jacket with your fingernail most likely genuine.

Kind of. Some xerox process printers, particularly the organic drum types, will produce raised letters under some circumstances, but they will not be able to produce the level green ink. No printers can produce the watermark. That is ‘in’ the paper. The xerox process prints are not as ‘stable’ as the US bill printing. I have had the ‘print’ peeled off a piece of paper by volatile compounds in plastic binders. That is because the ‘print’ on xerox process is actually fused plastic ‘dust’ on the surface of paper.

[Author]

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