Using Counterfeit Money

Broadly, the term counterfeiting refers to making a false duplicate of something in hopes of passing it off as genuine. In criminal terms, Henry Wade of The Wade Law Firm in Dallas, Texas clarifies, it mainly applies to monetary copies. People are counterfeiting are array of documents today in order to gain money they have not rightfully earned, says Wade. Not only are bills being counterfeited, but so are checks, money orders, savings bonds and stock certificates.

Advances in Technology

In the past, counterfeiting money was an expensive endeavor that required access to large printing presses and a detailed eye that could replicate the designs illustrated on money to be mass produced at a high quality. Now, however, if you have access to a computer, scanner and ink jet printer, you have the means to pull off a fake treasury branch right in your own home. Scan a $5 bill into your computer, increase the definition and hit print. Out will come your replica bill.

How the Government is Fighting Back

In 1996, the United States Treasury started to print new $50 and $100 bills. This was followed by the $20 bill in 2003, the $10 bill in 2005, and the $5 bill in 2008. All bills in circulation after these dates come equipped with these new security features that have equated to the use of fewer counterfeit bills:

• The bill is imprinted with a pattern of light, fine lines in hexagonal patterns.
• Details on the features of the bill, including the portraits, are precise and specific, and fail to be easily replicated.
• Color-shifting ink gives some aspects of the print a shimmering effect.
• Watermarks containing the same portraits that appear on the front of the bills are visible when held up to a light source. For a $5 bill, this would be miniscule “5s”, and for the $10 bill, a billion “10s”, and so forth.
• Tiny numeric numbers are scattered on the back of the bill in specific patterns.
• A magnetic serial number is implanted in each bill.

Many businesses also have special pens designed to help distinguish between a real bill and a fake one. Additionally, when a bill is printed, it is placed on very thin paper and then that paper is run through machines that exert extreme force, thinning the paper out even more. This is what gives money its distinct feel.

No Longer Reserved for Bills

Because more and more bills are being minted with intricate details, fine lines and much thinner paper than the average printer has available, individuals who still seek to create monetary replicas have moved beyond scanning their old money. Now people often make fake checks and money orders in hopes that they can get an unsuspecting victim to cash the check for them at their own bank. It usually takes a bank a few days to determine a fraudulent check, so the innocent party is left with the penalties of a bounced check, while the other person makes off with the money, never to be heard from again. This particular scam is mostly used in purchasing cars, boats and other high-priced items.

It seems more elaborate than the old standard of exchanging fake money for goods, but the practice is on the rise, especially as more store owners and everyday citizens have become more aware of false bills.

Legal Ramifications

If you are tried and convicted of knowingly trying to use counterfeit money or checks, then you can face imprisonment and astronomical fines, most of which will double, if not triple, the amount of money you were able to originally scam.

If, however, you have counterfeit money but you honestly had no idea that it was a fake, and you never consciously intended to use the money to cheat the government, you will probably be forced to forfeit the fake bills without compensation, explains Wade.