One of the most clear-to-follow currency counterfeiting trends in recent years is the widespread growth in the reproduction of fake $100 notes on top of washed $5 bills. As the leading supplier of point-of-sale counterfeit detection products in the United States, I have  seen this problem grow to epidemic proportions during 2008 and into 2009.  In practically every state in the U.S. businesses of all size have fallen victim to this particular type of counterfeit fraud.

Counterfeiters use genuine $5 bills because it allows them to create counterfeits with paper that is the same as a real banknote.  This allows the counterfeit note to pass a variety of “basic” counterfeit tests. First they “wash” the images off the $5 bill by using any number of different solvent solutions. If performed properly, the washing process will not harm the paper and certain security characteristics of the original bill. This effectively provides a counterfeiter with a blank piece of genuine currency paper upon which they can print a larger denomination note – typically $100 bills. The counterfeit note will easily pass the “counterfeit pen” test because the pen simply performs a litmus test on the paper – which in this case is genuine currency paper. The fake bill will also have both a security thread and a watermark in it – although neither feature will be correct for the $100 bill. The typical “eye-ball” review of these features will not be able to detect this fact.

Particularly adept counterfeiters can wash the $5 bill without damaging the magnetic ink, thus, even counterfeit detectors looking for magnetic features my falsely identify these fake $100 bills as genuine.

UV counterfeit detection units are capable of identifying this type of “washed $100”. Ultra-violet detectors will cause the $5 security thread to glow blue. This is an instant and easy-to-see indicator that the $100 bill is fake, because the genuine security thread in a $100 bill should appear as a very pale pink color, NOT blue.

More advanced bill verifier units, such as the Fraud Fighter CT-1000, will also identify these notes as fake as it actually reads and verifies a number of different features in combination. Including the image itself, infra-red features, magnetic features, ultra-violet features, bill size (which differs slightly from denomination to denomination) and several other factors.