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4. Check out the serial numbers. • Are the numbers printed in the same ink color as the Treasury seal?

 Yes  No

• Are the numbers evenly spaced and perfectly aligned?  Yes  No On genuine bills, the serial numbers have a distinctive style and are perfectly aligned. They are printed in the same color or ink shade as the Treasury seal and the numbers are uniformly spaced. On a counterfeit, the serial numbers maybe vertically or horizontally uneven, and lack uniformity. 5. Check out the paper. • Look closely – can you see tiny red and blue fibers embedded in the paper?  Yes  No • Feel it – Is it thin and crisp?  Yes  No • Can you feel the raised print ever-so-slightly?  Yes  No The paper that money is printed on is a blend of cotton and linen fibers. It is made according to a secret manufacturing process and never sold commercially. It is illegal to even try to reproduce it! Counterfeiters often attempt to simulate the red and blue fibers by printing tiny red and blue lines on their paper. On real money, the red and blue fibers are embedded into the paper, not printed on it. Also, a fake will feel like ordinary paper. A real bill is very thin and the print is slightly raised and detectable by feel. 6. Hold the bill up to the light. (This works only for $5, $10, $20 or larger bills printed after 1996) • Do you see a strip or thread running vertically to the left of the Federal Reserve seal?  Yes  No • Does the strip appear to be embedded in the bill?  Yes  No • Can you see a watermark? (A small area of darker and lighter areas.)  Yes  No • When shifting the angle of view, does the number on the lower right corner of the note change color?  Yes  No Security threads are placed in different places on each denomination. This prevents lower denomination bills from being bleached and reprinted as higher denominations. (Those crooks think of everything!) The security thread is not printed on the bill – it is embedded in it. All 1990 series and later bills, except $1 and $2 bills, include this feature. A watermark feature makes counterfeiting difficult because it does not copy on color copiers or scanners. In a genuine bill, the ink on the lower right numeral will appear green when viewed directly and change to black when the note is tilted. PRODUCT PREVIEW

Want to know more about detecting counterfeit currency? Bureau of Engraving and Printing

United States Secret Service

U.S. Department of the Treasury

www.secretservice.gov/money_detect.shtml

www.moneyfactory.gov/anticounterfeiting/securityfeatures.html

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THE 21st CENTURY STUDENT’S GUIDE TO FINANCIAL LITERACY

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