What color does a fake bill turn when marked?

Police are warning businesses and consumers about counterfeiters passing bogus $100 bills.

Here’s how you can tell if a bill is real or fake. 
 
Counterfeit or prop money as it’s sometimes called, is popular online and easy to get. You can buy $10,000 worth of fake money for only $24 on Amazon. 

Most prop money is made for movies. Propmoneys.com sells fake money in stacks of anything from fake dollar bills to hundreds. They even sell duffel bags full of fake cash.

So how can you tell whether the money someone gives you is real or fake?

For the scam in Yankton, it’s hidden in plain sight. If you look closely, the bill says Motion Picture purposes only, that’s obviously fake. A real bill says Federal Reserve Note. 

A $100 bill also has two special security features you can see when you tilt it. If the bell changes colors and the 3-D strip moves, it’s real. 

You can also tell by touch. If the bill feels rough, that’s also a good sign it’s real. 

And any bill $10 dollars or more has a color changing number in the lower right hand corner. 

The easiest way to find out whether or not the bill is fake is to buy a cheap and easy to use pen. If you mark the bill and it’s real, the mark is yellow or clear. If the mark turns dark brown or black, then you know the bill is fake.  

If you would like to take a closer look at what real bills look like, here is a link to the U.S. Currency website. 

The portraits on counterfeit money can sometimes look different from the portraits on real bills. On a real bill, the portrait tends to stand out from the background. However, on a counterfeit bill, the portrait’s coloring tends to blend too much with the rest of the bill. In addition, the portrait tends to look “lifeless and flat” on counterfeit bills, according to the Secret Service. Both DeSantis and Lowery pointed out that this difference is due to the different printing processes between real and counterfeit money. They noted that real currency uses printing methods that cannot be replicated.

A real dollar bill will have Federal Reserve and Treasury Seals that are “clear, distinct and sharp,” according to the Secret Service. The agency points out that the seals on a counterfeit bill “may have uneven, blunt or broken saw-tooth points.” One way to detect a counterfeit is by looking at the coloring. If the color of the Treasury Seal doesn't match the color of the serial number, the bill is fake.

The outside border on real paper currency are “clear and unbroken,” according to the Secret Service. However, the agency notes the edges on a counterfeit bill can be “blurred and indistinct.” Because of the difference in printing methods between genuine and counterfeit bills, the border ink can sometimes bleed on a phony. However, he added, this wasn't among the most common way to detect counterfeit.

Looking at the serial numbers is another way to detect counterfeit money. The Secret Service points out that the serial numbers on a note must be the same color as the Treasury Seal. The agency also notes that the numbers on counterfeit bills “may not be uniformly spaced or aligned,” although Kersten said these counterfeit identifying marks are rare. One sure way, however, to spot counterfeit bills is if several bills have the same serial number. “Face it, if you are running off thousands of those things, you aren’t going to bother changing the serial numbers,” he said.

Real bills have tiny red and blue fibers embedded in the paper, and counterfeiters have tried to replicate those. Ink marks can be printed onto the paper to look like hairs, Kersten said. He also noted that people have used cat or human hair that is dyed red or blue to embed into the bill. At close inspection, however, it is clear that the hairs are on the surface of the fake bill and not embedded into the paper. “But most people don’t even look for the hairs anymore because you have to look really closely,” Kersten said. “That is why the government put bigger things to look for in [the bills].”

At many grocery and convenience stores, clerks will use an iodine-based counterfeiting pen. The pen reacts to the starch in the paper. If the bill is real, the ink turns yellow. But if the bill is counterfeit, it will turn a dark blue or black. “Most counterfeiters don’t bother to use starch-free paper. They just use paper that simulates the color, thickness and look of real currency,” Kersten said. “But if your counterfeiter is good, they will use starch-free paper.”

The feel is probably the most common way that people detect counterfeit, Kersten said. Real currency has a “raised texture” to it because of the type of press used to produce the bills. Counterfeit bills feel flat because they are often made digitally or on an offset press. People who handle a lot of cash “can just notice that something doesn’t feel right,” Kersten said. From there, other factors can be used to determine whether a bill is counterfeit.

The watermark is the shadow of the portrait that appears when you hold the bill up to light. “That is one of the easiest ways for the common citizen to identify counterfeit versus genuine,” DeSantis said. Periodically, there are people who attempt to recreate the watermark, he added, but it tends to be of very poor quality. The people who do try to imitate the watermark use bleaching, Kersten said. People at stores usually only care that there is a watermark within the bill, he noted, but the watermark portrait must actually match the printed portrait to be genuine. Read more about how to spot counterfeit money at 24/7 Wall St.

What color is the mark on fake money?