Counterfeit Prevention Measures in World Currency Today

By Devon Valenta

Governments all over the world are protecting their currency from counterfeits by revising it frequently. Counterfeiting has become a serious problem in the past few decades.

With the advent of powerful consumer image editing software, cheap high resolution scanners, and low priced computer equipment it becomes easier and easier every year for counterfeiters to duplicate the designs and images found on modern currency. The threat of counterfeit currency is no laughing matter to the governments of the world, who have taken measures to ensure that their money is as difficult to replicate as possible. In this article we will discuss a few of the methods they have used to undermine the efforts of counterfeiters worldwide.

The United States government in the late 80s issued 20, 50 and 100-dollar denominations with a “security strip” inside the bill. The security strip made of fluorescent plastic was embedded in the bill itself. The strips run from top to bottom and can be easily read under a fluorescent light bulb. The denomination of the bill was written on the strip, to prevent counterfeiters from “upgrading” lower denominations of the bill to higher denominations by “washing” the ink from the paper and reprinting the graphics of the bill using dye sub or laser printers.

Watermarking is another method that can prevent the counterfeiting of currency. This method is being used in the United States wherein the latest bills issued by the treasury contain images designed into the paper itself. These watermarked images on bills of different denominations match the images of different US Presidents. For example, the $100-bill bears the likeness of the former US President Benjamin Franklin with respect to the standard image as well as the watermark. These images can be seen quite easily when we hold the bills against a source of light.

The image in the watermark should match the image of the president on the bill. The $100 bill has Benjamin Franklin as the standard and the watermark image. Some currency notes such as the $5 bills have been counterfeited to $100 bills. This bill is a carbon copy of the genuine one, but under scrutiny, the watermark image will reveal Lincoln’s face as per the $5 bills and the true colors of the fake currency.

Finally, one of the latest counterfeit prevention technologies that have been put into use is special inks that appear to be different colors at different angles. When viewed from the left, for example the color may appear to the eye to be a light green, but as the viewer shifts over to the right, the color changes to black. These color changing inks are very difficult to reproduce as they use a special compound that is very difficult for counterfeiters to manufacture.

These are just a few of the new security features built into modern United States currency. Be on the lookout for even more technology to be unveiled in the next few years as the treasury keeps up with the counterfeiters in the battle to maintain the integrity of the almighty dollar.

Copyright 2006, Devon Valenta, All Rights Reserved. This article may be published on web sites or in newsletters provided this notice and the resource box is included without ammendment.

Devon Valenta strives to help people seeking information about all types of currency issues. Why not go to his web site at: Fone Currency, to see the information sources available to you. Visit: http://www.fonecurrency.com

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