Staying Ahead Of Counterfeiters

Counterfeiting of paper currency is an old business. After the Massachusetts Bay colony became the first government in the western world to issue paper money in 1690, counterfeiters of paper money soon followed. According to the Wall Street Journal, within some time, government officials got engaged in running a battle against forgers. Punishments varied from cropping forgers’ ears to hanging them. To deter counterfeiting, the authority also issued colonial notes with a warning, “to counterfeit is death.” And the same problem continues in the 21st century.

Last week, Timothy Geithner and Ben Bernanke attended a ceremony where government officials showed a high-tech $100 bill. This new bill is expected to frustrate the 21st century counterfeiters. Adding some unique features, the new $100 bill has pleasing pastels already seen in lesser denominations, and a ghostly image of a quill pen and a copper inkwell containing a bell that appears or disappears, depending on the angle from which the bill is viewed. However, the most interesting feature of the new bill is a vertical strip that contains shinning images of the number “100” and the Liberty Bell that starts to tilt from one direction to another when the bill is tilted.

Currently, over a half a trillion dollars in “Benjamins” are circulating around the world. This bill has attracted the attention of incalculable number of counterfeiters. The fake $100 bills are mainly circulated by sophisticated gangs around the world. But there's also a considerable (if controversial) body of evidence linking the most realistic and dangerous counterfeits, the so-called super-notes, with the North Korean government. If the past history is any guide, then the latest change will not be the last. Paper money in the US has followed the same trend since it was issued; new designs, new dollars and finally, a new counterfeit.