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Washed $5 Notes reach Epidemic Levels in U.S.
March 12, 2006
One of the most clear-to-follow currency counterfeiting trends in recent years is the widespread growth in the reproduction of fake $100 notes on top of washed $5 bills. As the leading supplier of point-of-sale counterfeit detection products in the United States, we saw this problem grow to epidemic proportions during 2005. In every state in the U.S., businesses of all sizes fell victim to this particular type of counterfeit fraud.
Counterfeiters use genuine $5 bills because it allows them to create counterfeits that will pass a variety of “basic” counterfeit tests. They “wash” the images off the $5 bill by using any of a number of different solvent solutions. If performed properly, the washing process will not harm the paper, and certain security characteristics of the original bill can survive. This effectively provides a counterfeiter with a blank piece of genuine currency paper upon which they can print a larger denomination note – typically $100 bills. The counterfeit note will easily pass the “counterfeit pen” test, because the pen simply performs a litmus test on the paper – which in this case is genuine currency paper. The fake bill will also have both a security thread and a watermark in it - although neither feature will be correct for the $100 bill. The typical “eye-ball” review of these features will not be able to detect this fact.
Particularly adept counterfeiters can wash the $5 bill without damaging the magnetic ink, thus, even counterfeit detectors looking for magnetic features my falsely identify these fake $100 bills as genuine.
All UVeritech counterfeit detection units are capable of identifying this type of “washed $100”. Our ultra-violet detectors will cause the $5 security thread to glow blue. This is an instant and easy-to-see indicator that the $100 bill is fake, because the genuine security thread in a $100 bill should appear as a very pale pink color, NOT blue.
Our more advanced bill verifier unit, the CT-1000, will also identify these notes as fake because it actually reads and verifies a number of different features in combination, including the image itself, infra-red features, magnetic features, ultra-violet features, bill size (which differs slightly from denomination to denomination) and several other factors.
Please feel free to be in touch with us to learn more about this matter and how our equipment can help you prevent fraud losses at the cash register.
