Creating and passing counterfeit currency is a multimillion dollar sector. With inexpensive inkjet printers and computers it is an simple business to get into. Nearly anyone can print fake money. Retail associates are not properly equipped to recognize fake bills and most typically the bills are not identified as fake until they reach the bank.
Several retailers rely on counterfeit detection pens to check bigger bills at their cash registers. These pens are not the finest way to catch counterfeit bills. The pens use iodine to react chemically with the starch found in papers created from wood pulp, but true revenue is not printed on paper created from wood pulp. You swipe the pen across the bill and if it the iodine reacts with starch the mark will turn black and determine the bills as fake. If the mark remains yellow or clear the bill is genuine. This will catch the amateur who prints dollars on an inkjet printer with low cost paper, but it will not catch the qualified counterfeiter who can get high good quality cotton paper that does not use starch. A different way to get real paper to print bills on is to bleach (“wash”) smaller sized bills then use the resulting blank paper to print a bigger bill. Pens can also be fooled by working with hair spray or fabric softener to coat fake bills.
There are a lot of far better options. The easiest and cheapest solution is to train associates to recognize a fake bill by holding it up to the light and hunting at the watermark. All US bills have a watermark of the face on the bill to the ideal of the printed face. The watermark face can be observed by holding the bill up to vibrant light or sunlight. The face on the watermark ought to match the face on the bill. One more cheap resolution is a ultraviolet detector.
Putting the bill into the ultraviolet detector will immediately identify fake bills. Also out there are hand held flashlight kind ultra violet detectors. One extra choice is an automatic bill detector. These run around $300 and you just location the bill into the machine at the point of sale and it checks the bill and feeds it back to you.
If you determine a fake bill do not return it to the customer. Retain fake money online and get in touch with regional authorities. If this is not attainable then try to try to remember a detailed description of the suspect and their automobile and report the crime to law enforcement. To try to pass a fake bill on immediately after you accept it is a crime.
Relying on a low-cost counterfeit detection pen to recognize counterfeit money is not going to function. There are significantly far better ways to guard yourself from fake cash. Place a plan in place now and train your workers on how to safeguard your enterprise.