Capn Design Archives: My First Counterfeit Bill

My First Counterfeit Bill

March 27, 2006

Yesterday, I used my first redesigned ten dollar bill at Shake Shack. Of course, I didn't realize that until I felt it in my hands. Earlier in the week I was given one of the new tens by a coworker for a delivery order. My first reaction was, "Wow, they changed the texture a lot. Oh, and it's a bit smaller than regular bills. Wait a minute..." Althought my coworkers were skeptical, it was definitely a fake.

It also dawned on me that the introduction of the new ten was a perfect opportunity for counterfeiters. The ten dollar bill is a small denomination that is rarely checked by retailers and since it was newly redesigned people could be fooled long enough to let a bunch of them slide, just like I nearly did. Aside from the size and texture, the bill looked the part. If I was manning a cash register and it was slipped between a few other bills, I doubt I'd have noticed.

Also Interesting:You probably noticed the image of a ten above has the word "specimen" on it in bright red lettering. This is because Photoshop uses an anti-counterfeiting mechanism built at the behest of the U.S. government and international banks. If you try to open an image of a banknote, you are often sent to rulesforuse.org, but this may have changed as mine just printed "specimen" on the bill.

Comments (5 comments so far)

Comment #1:

Um, it's 'counterfeit.'

Posted by apettythief on March 29, 2006 at 3:49PM

Comment #2:

He he. Nice catch. Fixed it.

Posted by capn on March 29, 2006 at 3:56PM

Comment #3:

I wonder how many counterfeit bills i've spent without even knowing it!

Posted by landscape on March 29, 2006 at 4:41PM

Comment #4:

Does it have the hologram, watermark, etc? I'm just wondering if counterfeiters are good enough now to bypass all of the different anti-counterfeit measures. Although, I'm guessing if they couldn't get the size right then they probably didn't bother with the details.

Posted by jon360 on April 01, 2006 at 3:43PM

Comment #5:

Since we redid out $10 and $20 bills in Canada we've had a huge problem with counterfeit bills. All convenience stores have scanners to check authenticity and don't even think about trying to use a $50 or a $100 bill. I'm sure that isn't far off for you guys! Enjoy ;)

Posted by Jess on April 04, 2006 at 2:39PM

Trackback

Trackback Link: http://www.capndesign.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/949