How Counterfeiting Works

How Counterfeiting Works

The allure of counterfeiting is obvious. Counterfeiting is able to print your own money and buy whatever you want with it. Counterfeiting is the ultimate technology for people who want to get something for nothing.

Counterfeiting was a difficult and expensive endeavor, now it is much easier to create counterfeit bills in ten minutes. Now people just need a computer, a scanner, and color inkjet printer to create money. Back in the day, you needed large printing presses and the ability to cut intricate designs by hand into metal plates. To counterfeit money all you is a computer, a scanner, and a printer. The scanner needs to be set at 1200 or 2400

DPI resolution.

The U.S treasury released a new $20 bill in late 2003 to prevent counterfeiting. The entire bill is imprinted with a hexagonal pattern of lightly colored, extremely fine lines. The lines can't be seen with the bare eye without tint. Different parts of the bill contain tiny, intricate lines and details. Other parts of the bill contain different types of micro printing. Two places on the face of the bill contain sparkly, color-shifting ink.

The scanner wont be to capture the items above. The colors are off and the images look muddy. The light-colored hexagons turn to a brighter shade because the lines are not fine enough.

Counterfeiting takes practices. You have to adjust the color tone and align the front and back sides, but the counterfeit bill can't be perfect. The paper will make a difference. Normal paper is made out of cellulose found in trees. The real bill paper is made out of cotton and linen fibers also known as rag paper. The rag paper is thinner than normal paper. Normal paper can be detected by a counterfeit pen. The pen contains iodine. The iodine changes the color of the normal paper.