I bought a round and got a $10 and a load of singles as change. The $10 seemed a bit dodgy to me - they've just been updated and reissued - so I checked with the bartender that it was still legal tender. Of course he said yes. Later, after a few too many beers and all cost-consciousness out the window, I splurged on a taxi home. I gave the dodgy $10 to the taxi driver who promptly told me it was a fake. "Feel it!" he said. (I really think I may have watched too many episodes of The Wire - I can't tell you whether the bill felt different to others, but it definitely didn't feel like a photocopy. And it was green, more importantly. Money is green.)
But I'm just not sure about this - what do you think? My camera skills are non-existent, but any thoughts from these pictures? Top is the new-issue $10, bottom is the dodgy bill I was given last night.
Paper money is constantly being updated in the U.K., and having had Saturday jobs in shops, I think I have a fairly good idea how to tell at least a bad fake pound note. This has made me realise I know pretty much nothing about U.S. money. A colleague suggested to me that it's a good bill, but someone has taken a little strip placed inside the note (a way to identify it as a true bill) out, and this is why it's been cut at the bottom:
Anyway, for those of you interested, there's information on how to recognise counterfeited bills at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which has a nice little Web site with the neat address www.moneyfactory.com. I will be studying it carefully before I next decide to spend any cash.
5 comments:
But what are you going to do with that one if you find out it's fake? A moral dilemna if ever there was one.
They sell those pens, when you draw on the paper money it shows up yellow or clear, your OK. If it shows up brown or black...it's suspect.
They probably cost you 10.00 though...sorry ;)
Go to starbucks, (when it's slow) and ask the cashier to draw on your bill with their pen to check. They have the markers that show if a bill is fake or not.
The best way to tell if an old style bill like that is real without a pen is look at little lines that make up the engraved portrait (especially the background) and the border around the portrait. A real bill will have crisp lines that don't look smudged or bleed into eachother, even if it's worn.
Technically if you know you have a counterfeit bill you're supposed to call the secret service, but if you aren't sure bring it to your bank and ask them. If it is counterfeit they'll have to immediately take it from you.
The most suspicious thing to me is that the white border around the note is so lop-sided, with almost no space at the top and on the right.
That's the sort of thing that occurs when you are guillotining your money by hand, rather than having a machine to do it for you.
I'm only guessing though.
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