Counterfeiting? Why should we care?

1. Counterfeiting? Why should we care? • Affect scarcity and acceptability • Economy loses money as a result • When you make your own bills this week, you want to protect them! • Real life examples: • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k77h5ljBJa0 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D5P_jQrkLc&feature=fvwrel

2. Counterfeiting isn’t new • Government has been trying to protect scarcity since currency started • Still a current Issue • http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/3895900/spot-counterfeit-money/ • Counterfeiting costs U.S. businesses as much as $250 billion a year, according to the Washington-based International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition.

3. Counterfeit Measures of the 100 dollar bill

4. Detailed Portrait • On a real bill the portrait is crisp, clear, and stands out from the background. On a fake bill the portrait details tend to be fuzzy and blurry.

5. Fiber Embedded Paper • The paper used to print our currency has tiny threads of fibers embedded into the paper. • If the bill has no tiny fibers of red and blue embedded into the paper, it is probably a fake bill.

6. Border Scroll • The edges of a bill are fine lines in a scroll shape. • The thin, fine lines are sharp and clear on an authentic bill. • If you try to use a scanner and printer on your home computer to print your own money, the border art will appear blurred.

7. Security Thread • A security thread is embedded into the paper money and runs from the top to the bottom of the bill. • It is printed with the currency amount. • When held over an ultraviolet light the security thread will glow red. • The security thread is one of the ten anti-counterfeiting measures that work the best

9. Color Shifting Ink • On the $100 bill, a color shifting ink made with metallic flakes is used. • On the $100 logo, the ink color will shift from black to green depending on the angle you are holding the bill.

11. Microprinting • Print that is in such a tiny font that it simply appears as solid lines but when viewed under magnification you can read the printing. • Microprinting is an ant-counterfeiting measure that makes it extremely hard, if not impossible, for the average person to print fake money at home.

13. Serial Number • Printing serial numbers on currency makes it harder for counterfeiters to forge fake money. • On fake bills, the serial numbers may not be evenly spaced or sized which is a dead give away that the bill is fake.

14. Watermark • A watermark is embedded into the paper during the actual process of printing the paper. • A watermark is very hard if not impossible for most counterfeiters to accurately replicate.

16. Paper • The way the paper on a real bill feels often vastly contrasts with home made counterfeit bills. • The paper that real money is printed on is very hard to duplicate at home.

17. Paper Color • The Yellow and Greenish colored hues used paper money makes bills hard to duplicate at home. • A counterfeiter will have a hard time trying to duplicate the color scheme of an actual bill.