Anti-Counterfeiting Money

Reported September 2008

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Counterfeiting money is big business for criminals --nearly $70 million of fake currency gets used daily, costing consumers millions. To crack down on this problem, new anti-forgery technologies are helping put counterfeiters out of business.

Billions of dollars in cash changes hands every day.

Some of that cash isn’t worth the money it’s printed on. Banks won’t accept it, and consumers, like store owner Tom Quick, pay the price.

"The retailer’s usually the one that will end up eating the cost of the counterfeit bill," Quick told Ivanhoe.

Now, chemists at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing are outsmarting counterfeiters with new technologies and designs to make money un-fakeable.

"The technology works by making it harder for personal computers to reproduce currency," Judith Diaz Myers, a chemist at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C., told Ivanhoe.

The newest redesigned $5 bill is the first to have two repositioned, more detailed watermarks. A new embedded security thread has letters and numbers in a never-before-seen alternating pattern. Tricky images prevent copies.

"If a counterfeiter tries to scan or copy a note, the system actually stops that process," Myers said.

Future security features for big bills include micro-printing, very tiny type that most scanners can’t see. A security thread with 650,000 tiny glass domes within the strip creates an optical illusion nearly impossible to copy.

"If a counterfeiter tries to scan or copy a note, the system actually stops that process," Myers said.

What's the best way to protect yourself from a phony bill? Learn to spot a fake.

Take Myers' advice by asking these questions: "Does it look right? Does it feel right? Do you see the embedded thread? Do you see the watermark?"

Catch a fake, before it hits your wallet.

The redesigned $100 bill is still a work-in-progress. An introduction date has not been set.

The Optical Society of America contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report with support from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Patricia K. Pincus
Public Relations
(202) 530-4539
patricia.pincus@bm.com

Optical Society of America
Washington, DC
http://www.osa.org
info@osa.org

Whales and humans meet – sharing life-saving medicine. This video is great!

Help for diabetics may be as easy as picking up the phone. We’ll show you how their cell phones could become their lifesavers.

Pollen, cats, household cleaners … asthma sufferers encounter enemies every day. Now, they can put another one on their list.

When patients leave their beds to undergo therapy, they also leave behind an important safeguard: their bedside monitor. A new technology is making it possible for nurses to monitor their patients wirelessly.

A seatbelt can be a child's worst enemy in a car accident. Now, scientists are testing a new crash test dummy that could pave the way for safer seatbelts for kids.

Making counterfeit cash is a big business for criminals. Scientists are taking a bite out of their client base with new technologies aimed at making money unfakeable.

One of the most feared weapons in a terrorist's arsenal is bioterrorism. Now, jellyfish may be our next weapon!

A cotton-swab test at the airport? It could be used to catch viruses before they cause a pandemic.

A new hurricane simulator could be the key to hurricane-proof houses.

A classroom creation uses NASA satellite information to plot the path of hurricane destruction, enabling researchers to better prepare for the next storm.

Lightning is so powerful it's difficult to measure it. Now there’s a new way to see just how strong it is … and save more lives!

The art of paper folding has a purpose. We’ll show you how it’s used to save lives.