Counterfeit Money

Counterfeit Money

Objective: 

Students will be able to identify counterfeit money using observation skills and describe features of new paper currency that protect against counterfeiting.

On the following slide, make close observations. Which of these $100 bills is fake?

Poll

Which bill do you think is the counterfeit bill?

• Top

• Bottom

Open Ended

How did you decide which bill was counterfeit?

How to determine if a bill is counterfeit or not.

• Borders: In real money the borders are nearly perfect

• Light- Using light allows you to see the watermarks or security strip, each of which are not usually present in counterfeit money. (Obviously, we were unable to hold these bills to the light)

More tips:

• Color-shifting ink — The newer federal reserve notes in $10, $20 and $50 denominations have color-shifting ink that shifts from copper to green as the note is tilted 45 degrees. The $100 note has a color-shifting “bell in the inkwell.” The $5 note does not have color-shifting ink

• 3-D security ribbon — The 2004-style $100 notes features a blue ribbon woven into the paper. When you tilt the note forward and backward, the bells and “100s” move side to side. If you tilt the note side to side, they move up and down.

Real Bill

Forged

Look at the bills closely one more time.

Top Bill

Bottom

Poll

One more time, which bill is counterfeit?

• Top

• Bottom

Answer------

• The top bill was counterfeit.

• From the image, you can see uneven borders, the ink is not crisp (almost looks faded), and the blue ribbon does not appear to have a 3-D image of a bell.

Counterfeit, top

Real Bill