Counterfeiting With High Resolution Inkjets 682
Makarand writes "Thanks to the availability of low cost high quality inkjet printers, crooks
are now able to
produce currency indistinguishable from the real
banknotes, at least under dim lighting conditions like that in a bar or a nightclub.
The term "digifeiters" is being coined for counterfeiters that use
cheap high-resolution printers to produce fake currency. Unlike costly color xerographic copiers that come inbuilt with features
to detect security details on banknotes and stop currency copying, no cheap printers
come with such feature. An anti-digifeiting system for cheaper printers may consist of printer driver software capable of recognizing data patterns indicating currencies of several countries." I wonder what GimpPrint would think of being forced to print or not print certain documents based on their contents.
One of the funniest Beavis and Butthead episodes (Score:5, Funny)
Even funnier (Score:5, Funny)
They were xeroxing nickels.
The spent 25 cents for each xeroxed nickel.
After they got a bunch, they raggedly tore the extra paper from around their fake paper "nickels" and tried to buy candy from the clerk.
Alternate title (Score:3, Funny)
Plastic Notes work well (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:5, Funny)
Nice to see the government goes that extra step to help out the cheaters and counterfitters.
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:5, Funny)
Indonesia, Kuwait, Western Samoa, Singapore, Brunei, Sri Lanka and Thailand."
http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/currency
If one of those countries pisses Australia off, they can mass produce the country's
currency, and drop it from aircraft. Making their economy tank in short order
Oh shit, I think I just revealed Australia's plans for World Denomination[tm].
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:3, Funny)
-B
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:4, Interesting)
Brasilian money also has a plastic money, currently there is two version of the R$10,00 bill in circulation, one of the is plastic.
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:3, Insightful)
Bills which, by the way, are imported from Australia. If I'm not confusing things, the Brazilian central bank buys the bills with all the security features already in place, and only prints the "face value" on them.
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:5, Informative)
Also the diferent sizes makes it easier for blind people to recognize the value of the bills.
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:3, Funny)
This is mainly because the smallest bills we have are 5 euros.
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem with US money (and I've lived there for a while), is that all the notes look about the same, all are the same colour, they wear out very quickly, and they're very easy to counterfeit. (At least to the point of using in everyday money transactions... how many checkout chicks carefully look over every note?)
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, I'm not a chick, but was once a checkout boy during HS. We were given a detector pen to use on 20s or higher that turns brown on real money, black on most everything else. When the new bills came out in the late 90s, we were specifically instructed to check for that color-shifting ink in addition to that pen. It's also very easy to tell that a bill is suspect based on feel alone (one of the main focuses of my original post), as the US paper currency has a distinctive feel against other forms of paper.
But that only stops people who try to print their own at home, it doesnt stop those who bleach the ink off a $5 and print on a $100. Yeah - that's one of the problems with US money being all green. They have watermarks now (which are added at the mill where the paper is made, and cant be removed), but those are hard to check for at a checkout counter. I personally think that the paper should have some kind of varying color (like that new 20 that's coming soon) that differs between denominations.
How does the plastic money handle? What exactly is in that window - some sort of hologram or other image? I take it each denomination has its own color and size, but I think differing size would make it hard to carry around in your wallet.
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:5, Interesting)
As for the clear window, they just have some differing white symbols on them... all the notes also have all the other useful security measures:
Micro printing
Water marks
Some patterns printed on each side, that when you hold to the light they should match up to each other... which helps ensure that they were printed accurately
The first plastic note we had (The old $5) had a hologram on it, but that came off too easily, so was scrapped.
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't get so smug. Considering the exchange rate for the AU$ and the US$, we in the U.S. have a coin roughly comparable to the AU$ coin, we just call it a half dollar (1 AUD = 0.658961 USD). I have a few in my pocket right now. We have no half dollar notes, so we're about the same there. We also have dollar coins, have for centuries, and although they are not as popular as paper currency, they are reasonably common. Again, have a f
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:3, Insightful)
Man, that was the single thing that pissed me off the most about using money in the states, those damn pennies... get rid of them! Each week I'd accumulate a ridiculous weight in 1c coins... So I'm very happy to be back in Australia where the lowest denomanation we have is the 5c, much less in the way of change.
Also, I found it really hard to come by dollar coins while I was there... I knew you guys had them, but all I seemed to end up with was a walle
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:4, Insightful)
The solution to that "problem" is simple, if you don't want the pennies just don't take them. Many places even have a small dish on the counter for just that reason, if you need a penny (to avoid getting 4 back) and you see one in the dish, just use it. And if you don't want a few pennies you get in change leave them in the dish for some other guy. Or just quit collecting them in your pocket, spend them on your next cash purchase that isn't an even multiple of 5 cents (that's what I do). Getting rid of them would just effectively raise prices on everything by several cents (by as much as 7 or 8 cents AU). We don't need that. If you're too lazy to get out a few cents when you have a pocket full of them and you make another purchase, you deserve to carry them around or leave them for someone who appreciates them.
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:5, Interesting)
They aren't easy to get rid of. Vending machines won't take them. In fact there's hardly any coin-operated device that accepts pennies. Spending them is awkward. You can discreetly leave piles of them on a restaurant table as a tip, but that's probably not a good idea if you ever plan on eating there again. A penny in reality is worth a little less than its face value, because of the inconvenience they present in large numbers.
I found a good way to get rid of them. Use them to buy gasoline! You have to count them beforehand. If you have 163 pennies, just pump $11.63 or $16.63 of gas into the car, then go in, put a ten and maybe a five down, and then take all those little pennies out of your pocket and slam them down onto the counter. What's the guy going to say? They're legal tender. And they're just asking for it when they advertise prices that end in 9/10 of a cent. Usually the dude just eyeballs the pile, takes your word for it, and scoops them into the register.
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:5, Funny)
I always thought it was because the powerful stripper lobby didn't like being pelted with dollar coins.
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:4, Interesting)
The sad thing is that the new bills are equipped with much better counterfeit prevention/detection methods than afforded by the stupid pen, and by training cash register personnel with the pen, we are discouraging them from using the newer features.
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:5, Interesting)
If I'm not mistaken that "pen" is a felt tip marker with an iodine solution. The paper used for real money is known to contain no starch, so when you smear the pen across real money all you see is a faint brown smear from the iodine itself.
Counterfeit money, on the other hand, is presumed to contain lots of starch. Starch and iodine undergo a special chemical reaction that's one of those little quirks of nature. The I2 molecules have *just* the right diameter to fit inside the helix of a starch polymer perfectly. They immediately slide in there and the resulting starch-iodine complex has a strong inky black color so powerful that it's easy to see even if trace amounts of starch are present.
Of course, this presumes that counterfeiters are stupid, cheap, pay no attention to detail, and buy low-quality paper containing starch. As a general rule, counterfeiting is a crime that attracts very anal-retentive people. I would imagine that a counterfeiter would pay more attention to his choice of paper than a laid-off dot-com worker printing resumes. It probably isn't too hard to find paper that doesn't contain any starch, and testing for it is a piece of cake because those stupid pens are sold all over the place. I bet every counterfeiter on the planet has one.
Still, the pen is common because people want to believe they can buy a magicical item that detects counterfeit money. If you're a counterfeiter and you can't fool an iodine pen, you should consider going into another line of crime.
Re:Plastic Notes work well-"petty" crime. (Score:5, Funny)
I would recommned congressman.
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:5, Informative)
Pretty much like paper currency. A plastic note feels pretty much like a fresh paper note in terms of properties; a little stiff and textured, but still very pliable. By feel, they are obviously not paper, but they don't feel like you're playing with a cheap plastic wrapper either.
The difference is that these properties don't really change as they get older. The notes get a few more creases in them, but they don't start to feel like tissuepaper like paper notes do.
The creases are about the only problem; it can be a bit of a pain to flatten them out, but on the whole, I gotta say I prefer them.
As a result, they last a lot longer in circulation - about 4 times longer. The down side is that they tend to tear catastophically; once a tear is started, it runs through the note fairly easily. However, it's very hard to start a tear in the first place (contrast with paper notes, which are easy to start a tear, but tend to tear slowly once started).
What exactly is in that window - some sort of hologram or other image?
Its a clear window, with an image in white ink in it. Each note has a different image. For example, the $10 note has a windmill. Its not a complex image - just a basic silhouette. There are some other security measures; microprinting, front/back alignment marks, that sort of thing. No RFID tags yet
I take it each denomination has its own color and size, but I think differing size would make it hard to carry around in your wallet.
Each note is the same height, but each larger denomination is slightly (7mm, IIRC) longer. The longest note ($100) fits easily in an average wallet. A $10 note (all that I have with me at the moment) is about the same height, but about 20mm shorter than standard US currency. That would make a $100 about the same size as a US banknote. (I don't have one with me to compare)
However, the real benefit is the colour. You look into a wallet stuffed with AUD bills, and you can tell if you have a little or a lot of money. See lots of pink, you've got lots of $5. See lots of green, you've got lots of $100. Single colour currency is one of the hardest thing I've had to get used to in the US. (that, plus tipping, and the fact that sales tax is never on the advertised price - but that's another story...)
Russ %-)
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:3, Interesting)
In his memoirs [amazon.co.uk], the compulsorily-retired British counterfeiter Charles Black gives a neat method of imitating this.
He took a load of electric wire insulation (red and blue separately IIRC), cut it into several centimeter lengths, and scattered those on a sheet of white paper in about the right density. He then photographed the resulting random arrangement, and photographically reduced it so it looked just like the pattern characteristic of US Treaury b
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Plastic Notes work well (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The Future of Australian Money (Score:5, Informative)
Here, try comparing AU$ to CDN$ [x-rates.com]. Neither is growing compared to the other.
Or, here's EURO compared to AU$ [x-rates.com].
Forex primer (Score:3, Informative)
2. There are three major global currancies now that the Euro group got behind the Euro. The Dollar, Euro and Yen. The British Pound is a smaller but still important global currency. The dollar is still has the largest foreign holdings, mostly thanks to oil trade being dollar denominated, asian currency holders, things like Euro-dollar accounts, and criminal activity (which still usually takes place in dollars. For a currency to be weakening it should depreciate ag
Wonka Dollars (Score:5, Funny)
Try counterfeiting those.
Re:Wonka Dollars (Score:5, Informative)
Here you go:
Willy Wonka Bars Candy Recipe
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 box powdered sugar
1 1/2 packages graham crackers
1 package chocolate chips
2 tablespoons margarine or 1/4 cup milk
Combine margarine, peanut butter, powdered sugar and graham crackers. Press mixture in pan. Melt chips and 2 tablespoons of margarine or milk. Spread over graham cracker crust. Refrigerate. Cut when cool.
Re:Wonka Dollars (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wonka Dollars (Score:2)
Heck, try keeping them in circulation. They'd be eaten faster than they were spent.
No problem (Score:2)
Re:No problem (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, it's a common practice for a counterfreiting operation to 'launder' its money before putting it out into circulation. They will literally put it in a washer / dryer to give it that 'worn down' look and feel.
Re:No problem (Score:4, Interesting)
Although it wouldn't pass a rigorous inspection, spending the printed money at a grocery store or similar location would probably be really easy (nobody would check it for the special security features, and previous posters have mentioned brands of paper that have that "money feel" to them).
Re:No problem (Score:3, Insightful)
Get's at least looked at about 30% of times in Australia.
Where can you get that type of paper? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Where can you get that type of paper? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Where can you get that type of paper? (Score:4, Interesting)
Apparently 90% of US currency is outside of the US at any given time.
Re:Where can you get that type of paper? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Where can you get that type of paper? (Score:3, Insightful)
"Particularly for the clubs"??
How so? The waitress comes by with a tray of drinks for a bunch of half-drunk guys sitting at a table in the dark, most of whom throw a bill or two at her and get on with their conversation. What is the waitress to do at that point? Pull her handy black light out and start scanning each bill? The guys at the next table are yelling for service, one of
Re:Where can you get that type of paper? (Score:3, Funny)
then took the pen to it.
Sigh.
Re:Where can you get that type of paper? (Score:5, Insightful)
Not after you set the bills down on a bar that's wet due to drink spillage, etc. The other thing is that bartending is VERY fast paced, it would be easy to not notice.
You can't get that type of paper (Score:2, Funny)
And from the Treasury: Currency FAQ [ustreas.gov]
From PBS: Anatomy of a Bill: The Currency Paper [pbs.org].
Re:Where can you get that type of paper? (Score:5, Informative)
The idea is to use a lower value note, say a one, then bleach the old ink off of it. Use your handy-dandy inkjet to print a twenty note on the paper that used to be a one. The one is well suited to false promotion because it doesn't have a florescent nylon strip that a bartender could positively verify the paper isn't a twenty.
Since all US notes are the same size, feel the same, and mostly look the same it's easy to fake. I know the French franc, prior to the Euro, used different sized paper for different values.
As a side note, if you've never seen the movie The Grifters [imdb.com] there's a scene where John Cusack flashes a twenty at a bartender, asks for a beer, then pulls a slight-of-hand leaving a ten on the counter expecting the bartender to remember the twenty and give change as such.
I know folks in the US complain about the Monopoly-esque look of other currency, but it's a hell-of-a-lot tougher to copy, easier for the blind to judge denomination from size, and easier for visitors to manager. Put a dime in front of a visitor and ask him the worth of it. He can't. Nowhere does it say "ten cents" or "10 cents." It just say "One Dime."
Sorry for ranting.
Re:Where can you get that type of paper? (Score:3, Funny)
It's also the smallest coin. Worked wonders with my little sister when I was a kid. I'd trade her my larger nickels for her small little dimes. Worked wonders!
Re:Where can you get that type of paper? (Score:3, Funny)
"Worked wonders with my little sister when I was a kid. I'd trade her my larger nickels for her small little dimes."
Surprised it's profitable (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Surprised it's profitable (Score:5, Funny)
Big deal - it still feels fake (Score:2, Insightful)
The big thing about currency isn't the image so much as the ink and the feel of the cloth. That's not paper, it's linen, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a supply of convincing stock. The ink, while less of a factor, still contributes to the gestalt of cash - it affects the smell, and doesn't wash off when exposed to moisture.
But in the US... (Score:2)
Bingo - instant profit.
Re:But in the US... (Score:2)
Re:But in the US... (Score:3, Interesting)
Something to consider (Score:5, Interesting)
I mention this because this could be the next step for inkjets (if it hasn't been done already!) with all the privacy concerns that entails.
Re:Something to consider (Score:2)
What good would this be?
Buy the printer with cash. Or a stolen credit card. After printing off a huge load, dump the printer.
That may already be happening (Score:5, Interesting)
Sort of related: HP now offers invisible ink for inkjet printers [guntherintl.com] viewable only under UV or IR light, intended to print stuff like tracking barcode on financial documents without customers noticing them (so shred all your junk mail, not just stuff with visible account numbers, since you don't know what might be printed invisibly on it). Maybe that's another way they can surreptitiously tag the output of color printers. Your printer specs say the inkjet print head has 48 dots? Have you ever actually counted them? Maybe they'll add an unannounced 49th dot that squirts invisible ink on the paper, and a tiny amount of invisible ink in a secret chamber of every cartridge. Yeah! That's the real reason the govt wants to extend the DMCA ban third-party inkjet refills, so they can keep tracing printer output back to its source! Tinfoil hat time... :)
Steganography (Score:3, Interesting)
You can do that sort of thing yourself, too. The simplest form of steganography [reference.com] is to diddle the LSB of one of the colours. Since the human eye doesn't focus well in the blue wavelengths, you would filter the host image to
Re:Paranoia mode on.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Same with these future can-only-run-signed-code computers. Don't buy them; your current computer is probably pretty good and can run ANY code you tell it to.
Re:Something to consider (Score:4, Informative)
My first real job in 95 was at a Kwik Kopy. From about 6 months after I started, we (well, a couple of us) were aware that the color copier tagged it's serial number on every copy it made.
When I first discovered it I was working with the head typesetter. We couldn't figure out what this strange very light interference pattern on every printout from the color copier (which had it's own RIP) was. It was the same regardless of whether we were printing or copying, and regardless of the content, and it was an identical pattern on every sheet. That particular copier (as far as we could tell) didn't have any moving parts that synced with the page ends well enough for it to be a physical problem. And if we put the machine into black and white mode it went away.
It took several weeks of me badgering the service guy, and 3 service calls for 'Image Quality', before he finally admitted what it was.
We weren't really surprised, the copier had other more noticeable anti-counterfitting measures as well. While we never had a problems with copying, occasionally if you printed a file from the network with a complex enough swirled pattern on it (which one of our typesetters was unfortunately fond of), any green on the page would get shifted towards blue. We solved the problem by firing the typesetter. (For unrelated reasons, of course.)
The smaller black and white self-serve copiers also apparently had currency detectors (of an informational, not active type), which we found out about when one of the machines had a service call for a broken belt and the tech qustioned us because he said the currency detection register had been set. Since none of us had seen anybody trying to copy money, and it was a black and white machine, he said it was likely a mistake and he didn't even have to report it, but asked us to keep an eye out.
I've always been an advocate off (Score:2, Insightful)
There are other issues (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm no currency expert, but I would imagine there are a lot of issues like this that aren't effected by the gross appearence of the bill for both U.S. and other bills.
$200 George W Bush Bill (Score:5, Interesting)
I think it was the manager who first raised the question about the validity of this bill later.
Correction on the story (Score:5, Informative)
"A woman was charged $2.12 at a Diary Queen drive-through in Danville, Kentucky, and she was given $197.88 in change for her $200 bill. In case a clerk might not know that a $200 bill isn't legal tender, this taped-together bill was clearly marked as a 'moral reserve note' and featured George W. Bush's portrait. The White House picture on the bill's back has yard signs reading 'We like broccoli'and 'Rooms not for rent'. Police were notified as to the woman's presence shortly after she left. They do not consider the bill to be a counterfeit one."
Re:Correction on the story (Score:3, Funny)
Is there really that much of a market for those who need to buy a diary without getting out of the car?
Re:Correction on the story (Score:3, Informative)
Restaurant, Residents React
UPDATED: 6:42 p.m. EST January 30, 2001
DANVILLE, Ky. -- It started out with a blizzard and now a Dairy Queen in Danville is getting an avalanche of attention.
A woman who paid for her food with a fake $200 bill Sunday left with plenty of change. The bill had a picture of George W. Bush on the front and oil rigs on the back. "That's the talk of the town," Danville resident Joseph Bourne said. "It's got to be one of those dumb blonde stories."
Ad
All in One stop crime (Score:2, Informative)
Why use such easy-to-copy notes? (Score:2, Interesting)
Is this the incentive for the US to change it's currency? Most countries change their notes eventually anyway, so maybe America should consider doing it sooner rather than later.
The UK has that fancy bit of shiny foil woven into the paper that is easy to spot, and Australia uses polymer notes with transparent windows in them (these last longer than paper too). There are lots of alternatives available that a simple printer could not copy.
OTOH, as Bruce Schneier pointed out in Secrets and Lies, sometimes t
I don't think so ... (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't think it'd make any difference for printing software. The only software that would be likely to sport anti-counterfeiting is the firmware in the printer itself.
Anyhow, good luck to make a piece of software that detects fake banknotes, and even if it did detect fake dollars with 100% accuracy (fat chance), I'll just print fake Irakian dinars and off I'll be to the currency exchange counter. No wait
Heyy great idea (Score:2)
I like the nice veiled suggestions put forth to slashdot geeks from time to time. I suppose I can buy that color laser printer now, it'll cover its price in no time.
Banknotes should include security features that cannot easily be copied. In short, they should build notes that would cost more than its value in fabrication, should it be made fake. There are see-through sections, tiny cutouts, plastic parts, different materials, thickness, ink and smell that should really differentiate bills even in low-lig
Make really fine banknotes (Score:5, Funny)
New American currency, this year. (Score:5, Informative)
Having caught people using counterfeit bills from working in nightclubs and restaurants, it is starting to become a problem.
Here is a link:
new $20 dollar bills. [cnn.com]
Re:New American currency, this year. (Score:3, Informative)
Picture of the actual bill: Front [moneyfactory.com] Back [moneyfactory.com]
UV light is the bane of home printers (Score:3, Interesting)
Since we started using that, we have stopped almost $150 in counterfeits. Not bad for a $40 lamp. In the two years that it has been in place, the bank has not found anymore counterfeits in our deposits.
One would think that a nice dim area where these bills are easier to pass, that a UV lamp would be even more useful since you could see things like the UV emblem that is on canadian money or the red fibers.
Try it with New Zealand money (Score:3, Funny)
Well, thats less of a problem with secure bills... (Score:5, Informative)
..like, for instance, Norwegian ones (see http://www.norgesbank.no/english/notes_and_coins/n otes.html for more on those) which has real securitymeasures like holograms and 'mother of pearl'-effect on it. Good luck trying to copy or scan that, 'cuz it plain can't be done without very, very specialised equipment. In fact, a while back I wrote up a short piece on Norwgian money for one of my american friends who were comming over to visit, and since he wondered how they have apperantly managed to scan it at http://www.norgesbank.no/english/notes_and_coins/c ounterfeit200kr.html , I gave them a call and asked - and was told that that picture was made out of a "number of scans at various angles blended together". For some reason they didn't want to give me any more details on how to achive that efect...
Sorry for not giving proper links, but I seem to have misplaced my little 'cheat-note' on how to write that bit of code...
Small time counterfiting profitable? (Score:3, Interesting)
I know the local gas station accepts bills in their outdoor machines, let alone do it your self carwashes that provide coins for change to use in the machines, though some are switching to tokens rather then quarters. I've never tried something I knew was counterfit, but i'd imagine that, given that these vending machines use scanners to identify a bill, i'd think they'd be easier to fool.
Further more, small time counterfitting is less likely to raise an eyebrow. A $20, $50, $100 will be looked at most carefuly... where a $5, or a $10 isn't going to be considered as much of a threat.
While I wouldn't want to buy, let's say a car, with quarters, they are indeed legal tender, and no human is going to argue about a quarter being counterfit, and quarters don't have any serial numbers to boot.
This is what i'd be concerned about, a flood of sub $20 counterfit currency.
Re:Small time counterfiting profitable? (Score:3, Interesting)
This actually happened to me once--I went to visit the significant other at work, and brought in my 'tub of change' to cash in. Well, there had been a lot of vandalism at a local car w
Try printing a hologram (Score:3, Informative)
the penalties from counterfitting (Score:5, Insightful)
As for the technical aspects. Take a look at the "big head" notes. Their is microprinting on the lower left side of the portrait. This microprinting is so fine, that light reflecting off of them scatters making it impossible to make a clear copy. In addition, there is multi-colored ink on one of the 5/10/20/50/100 numbers in the corners. And there is that pesky watermark. Oh, and ink from inkjets runs like there is no tommorow. A sweatty person couldn't pass those notes.
All in all, the penalties for counterfitting and the risk of getting caught are too high.
hmph (Score:5, Insightful)
Never mind, Syria has it cornered (Score:3, Interesting)
The fakes are indistinguishable from the real thing, even by experts. (No surprise, they're made by experts.) Maybe Syria has a harder time, now, disposing of them, with its smuggling routes through Iraq interfered with. (Closed? You must be kidding.) Who knows how much is being printed in Russia? Dollars are very popular there.
It didn't take long at all to start copying the new bills, which is why the U.S. is going to another design already. You probably have some Syrian bills in your pocket right now. Take a look and see if you can spot them.
Meanwhile the Treasury is harrassing an artist, J.S.Boggs, for drawing funny money by hand and exchanging it for face value. Your tax "dollars" at work.
Better banknotes? (Score:3, Informative)
A lot of people don't like it though, feels different, doesn't fold the same.
Tales From a Bank Cash Vault (Score:5, Interesting)
Firstly, silver coinage is very much out there, even to the point that a handful of silver Kennedy half dollars can be found in a single deposit from a department store (there was even a Franklin half in one batch). Perhaps people just don't notice silver coinage even in high-volume retail
Secondly, fake twenty dollar (US$20) bills are being easily passed along in bars
It could also be that the criminal element that does the counterfeiting is native to the bar-going crowd.
I have inspected these fake 20s in some detail. I noted right off the bat the "obvious" difference: the overall hue of the bill is off just enough to be suspicious. It is a little darker, and either slightly more yellow, brown and even a tiny bit purple. So it is easy for me to believe that these bills can be passed off in a darker environment.
The texture of the bills was OK, surprisingly. It could be that the paper was run through a washing and/or brushing mechanism to more simulate the cloth-y feel of a real bill. As for the microprinting
P.S. A final note about hue
Get the money paper from the source (Score:5, Interesting)
I think that would make a great plot for a caper movie -- pulling off a big heist of real currency paper from Crane & Co.
Currency Rarely Checked (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is that you can do a fairly lousy job, especially if you're giving me a wad of various bills to pay for your dinner. (ie, if you give me a bunch of $5's and $1's, I'd just throw them all in the register, most likely not even looking at them one-by-one.)
Machines exist for 'counting' money (at extremely high rates) that automatically check various security features. Suppose cash registers started having an interface to this -- you'd stick the money in, and it would automatically undergo security checks.
By the way, am I the only one who isn't too convinced that the new bill styles will be effective? The old ones will still be accepted, and if they're easier to forge, why wouldn't I just forge one of those? Frequently changing their design won't really counter counterfeiting (heh, no pun intended there).
Re:Currency Rarely Checked (Score:3, Interesting)
The U.S. Treasury has never ended the lifespan of any of the bill styles it's printed. If the U.S. Treasury authorized a note's printing, then it is legal tender no matter how old it is or what its denomination.
If you wanted, you could counterfeit $2 bills. They rarely get back to the banks. people tend to horde them. But they are legal tender even though they where retired from new printing runs years ago.
Unless and until the Treasury recalls and eliminates all the "old" bill
Multi Layered printing? (Score:3, Insightful)
Scanner Drivers too? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:How would they detect features? (Score:5, Interesting)
They copy the bills, but some do stuff to make the copied bills unusable, like make a perfect copy of a bill but make the entire page hot pink. The Ricoh printers we had at my last job did that. Other copiers make the copy, but insert a code number somewhere on the bill unbeknownst to the counterfeiter. When the bill makes its way to the Secret Service, they find the code, contact the company, and find out where that copier is located, which speeds up the investigation quite a bit. IIRC, a few years back they nailed some idiot Cornell students this way. Unfortunately I can't find the story on Google, and I don't quite remember where I heard it-- possibly from one of the Discovery Channel or History Channel documentaries concerning the U.S. Mint or the Secret Service or counterfeiting.
~Philly
How do you think the $ keeps it's value? (Score:3, Informative)
Our money is used to control the world economy. Monitary supply is watched extremely closely by the fed. By keeping our money consistant it makes all those illicit activities good to do because the money never "expires".
Could you imagine a columbian drug czar or saddam going to the bank to exchange their 1/2 a billion dollars?
This is how we tople governments. Money.
Greed is good. -Gordon Gekko
Re:How do you think the $ keeps it's value? (Score:3)
Re:Speaking of GNU ... (Score:3, Informative)