Planning for a Bright, Financial Future

If you own a retail business that takes cash, it is important that you train your cashiers to spot fake currency. For many businesses, it is a basic strategy to simply refuse bills over twenty dollars, but you still have to deal with the problem of counterfeit $10 and $20 bills. The following are a few things you and your cashiers should know to spot fake money in your store:

Look for the watermark

This is an image that can be seen when you hold the bill up to the light. The watermark will be a face, and it will be the same face as the portrait on the bill. It will also be on the right side of the front of the bill. There are several ways to detect a fake bill using the watermark. A fake bill may have a watermark that is visible without holding it up to the light, and sometimes the face will be different.

Check for the thread

When checking $10 and $20 bills, there is a thread running through the left side of the bill. If you look closely when holding up the note to the light, you can see this thread. It is not printed, but is a thread that is embedded in the bill. In addition, there is printing on the thread. For the $10 and $20 bills, there will be the letters USA. After this will be the word ten or twenty, depending upon the denomination.

Using a counterfeit money detection pen

These pens are easy to use and are an important weapon in detecting counterfeit bills. Basically, you make a mark on the bill the same way you would when using a felt pen. If the mark changes to a color indicated by the manufacturer of the pen, then the bill is fake. These pens are checking for certain common chemicals that are used when criminals produce fake money.

Check for the feel of the note and the printing

If you are still unsure after the above three checks, you can take a bill that is known to be authentic and compare this to the suspicious bill. The first thing to compare is the feel of the bill. Fake bills may have a thinner texture to them. A better comparison is with the printing. Authentic bills have small and detailed printing that is produced from metal plates. When a bill is a forgery, the details on a bill are often blurry. A magnifying glass is best used to detect these imperfections.

Criminals passing fake bills at your store can hurt your profits. But by giving your employees and yourself the education and tools to spot these bills, much of the problem can be prevented. For more information, contact companies like Counterfeit Buster to learn more.