Fake money

[Dreamstalker]

My grandfather worked in the Secret Service for quite a few years in the mid-50s, and he taught me quite a few things about fakes.

None of our counterfeit markers actually work anymore, the last time I tested one it marked a real bill as fake (wtf). People have been using them as normal pens. We have some gizmos that you can feed a bill into and it can test it, but those won't catch washed bills and also reads older real bills (and some newer ones) as fake so it's not clear what they test for and they're not actually being used anymore.

I have a counterfeit pen/blacklight, but that never leaves my person and I only bring it in if I hear there's a problem. Some years ago someone around here was counterfeiting singles...at the time I thought that was stupid, but after seeing how many people try to change small bills for large at checkout I see how it could work as well as the big ones (nobody ever checks singles).

[Ironclad Alibi]

Some years ago someone around here was counterfeiting singles...at the time I thought that was stupid, but after seeing how many people try to change small bills for large at checkout I see how it could work as well as the big ones (nobody ever checks singles).

See post #3 in this thread for a real life movie about that.

[Dreamstalker]

After seeing the 'movie money' on Fleabay I'm now tempted to pick up some of the double-sided bills and see (with management approval and assistance, one or two shift leads would be happy to help with this 'training') how many of the cashiers can figure it out. We've had some of the newbies refuse older-style bills and $2 bills (we have a customer who loves paying with those) because "they look fake"

[Dizazter]

The counterfeit pens will also show newspaper print as legit.

[wolfie]

My guess is that the pens have a reagent that checks for a specific chemical found in copy paper (based on the assumption that most counterfeits would be done using inkjet/laser printers). Cheap paper like newsprint doesn't have any of the fillers/brighteners found in copy paper, so it wouldn't react.

[Ironclad Alibi]

My guess is that the pens have a reagent that checks for a specific chemical found in copy paper (based on the assumption that most counterfeits would be done using inkjet/laser printers). Cheap paper like newsprint doesn't have any of the fillers/brighteners found in copy paper, so it wouldn't react.

From the How Stuff Works web site:

The counterfeit detector pen is extremely simple. It contains an iodine solution that reacts with the starch in wood-based paper to create a black stain. When the solution is applied to the fiber-based paper used in real bills, no discoloration occurs. The pen does nothing but detect bills printed on normal copier paper instead of the fine papers used by the U.S. Treasury.

[XCashier]

* On a side note, there are people on the little e logo site selling "movie money". Where it should say "United States of America", it says "Motion Picture Use Only". Otherwise they are near perfect fakes. A store in our state got hit with some a few weeks ago. A reporter showed one of the bills to people on the street and only 1 out of 4 caught the mistake.

Reminds me of when they filmed the Doctor Who episode "The Runaway Bride", the BBC printed up a bunch of fake £10 and £20 notes for one scene, and they distantly resembled actual British currency...


except they had David Tennant's face on them!

[Draco]

I wonder if she knew full well the bill was fake and that's why she was pissed about it? I've worked at places where the boss has told the cashiers to slip bills they know to be fake into the change they give customers so that the store doesn't have to take a loss on it when the money is deposited. I would refuse to do it and clear any questionable bills out of my register by tucking them into the first deposit bag I would use, because invariably there would be a couple of fake bills in my float for the day -_-

*twitch* Good call, because purposely handing out counterfeits is a crime. Giving them back to the person who gave them to you (being the cashier) is also a crime. The Secret Service is supposed to be called (or the local police in the event there isn't a SS location near you) for them to collect the fakes and investigate.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I once had a customer try and pay for his pizza (at my old job at Pizza Place) with a fake ten pound note. I tested it and as well as the pen mark being purple grey, there was no watermark. I told him that I could not accept it or give it back; the customer went ballistic. So I used the pen to write "FAKE" across the note, waved it at him and said, "Do you want it back, now?" He stormed out and later tried to complain about me; my boss shot the complaint down. He then went to the police and, as we later heard, was arrested for making fake notes (he had a machine on his premises).

[XCashier]

He then went to the police and, as we later heard, was arrested for making fake notes (he had a machine on his premises).

That, right there, is a Speshul Kind Of Stoopid. "Officer, arrest her! She won't give me my fake note back, and I worked hard to print that one up!"

[DGoddessChardonnay]

That, right there, is a Speshul Kind Of Stoopid. "Officer, arrest her! She won't give me my fake note back, and I worked hard to print that one up!"

That's the brother to "arrest that man, Officer. He stole my stash of pot."

[Lace Neil Singer]

I actually asked my boss if he was kidding when he told us about that guy, cuz it was just too stupid to be real, right? Sadly, it was real. O_o

[Jay 2K Winger]

That's the brother to "arrest that man, Officer. He stole my stash of pot."

And sister to "throw 'im in jail, he sold me bad heroin!"