The New Color of Money
...nt believed this helped the public distinguish between genuine and counterfeit bills. Little did they realize this would make it easier to counterfeit as this was creating “standardized” bills. It would take the federal government sixty-one years to add another security feature to reduce counterfeiting and sixty- seven years until the U.S. currency was redesigned to once again try and minimize counterfeiting. Sixty-one years later in 1990 as technology advanced in copiers and printers, the federal government added security thread and microprinting to the U.S. currency. $100 notes were the first to be issued and by 1993, all denominations featured these new advances with the exception of the $1 and $2 notes. The security thread consisted of red and blue fibers embedded in the currency paper, making it a unique style of paper. Counterfeiters duplicate this effect by just using printers and printing the red and blue fibers on the paper (U.S. Secret Service-money 1). If looked upon closely, a person can see that the fibers are not embedded but merely printed on the surface. (Figure 2. Inscribed Security Thread. Source: http://www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney/main.cfm/media/releases102003newyork). Despite adding these two new features, this particular color, design and size of the U.S. currency is easy to counterfeit and is the design that makes U.S. currency the most widely counterfeited money in the world. This of course is in relation to the technology advancements in color copiers and printers. Below is a picture of the old currency that was originally created and standardized in 1929 and is still in circulation today. (Figure 3. U.S. Currency, $5 note. Source: http://www.secretservice.gov/counterfeit.shtml) What ultimately benefits counterfeiters is the fact that all U.S. currency issued since 1861 remains valid and redeemable at full face value. The United States has never recalled any of its currency (frbatlanta 5). However, there is one very interesting aspect of U.S currency that many people do not know about. Before 1929 denominations of the U.S. currency was created. The denominations were $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 bills. The reasons why these bills are not highly counterfeited are because they are not widely known about, not widely seen and have been taken out of circulation. These denominations have not been printed since 1946 (frbatlanta 1). (Figure 4. Higher Denominations. Source: http://www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney/main.cfm/media/releases102003newyork) William McKinley Ornate “500” Grover Cleveland Ornate “1,000” James Madison Ornate “5,000” Salmon Chase Though the older denominations of currency are easy and the main target for counterfeiters, the most widely counterfeited denomination by drug lords and cartels is the $1 bill. The main origin of counterfeit money, especially by drug lords and cartels comes out of Colombia in South America. “Almost half of the counterfeit U.S. currency being distributed to the American public is transported or “muled” into the United States from foreign countries, most often Colombia (Testimony of Special Agent Daniel Snow, July 24, 2001, the Committee on Financial Services/U.S. House of Representatives)”. The reasoning for the cartels to highly counterfeit the $1 bill is by using the $1 bill over again. The cartels have developed a way to take the $1 bill and wash it in an ink erasing acid. This of course, erases the ink off of the original $1 bill and leaves the original paper, color and size in tact. Thus, after this process and once the bills have dried, the bills are then printed over again using the $100 denomination design. By doing so, it virtually makes it impossible to pick these bills out since the integrity of the paper has not been compromised. These Colombian based counterfeiting operations are so widely used and are so numerous that in 2000, the country of Ecuador was flooded by counterfeit currency. This in part was due to Ecuador accepting the dollar as currency in order to slow inflation of its own currency. This allowed the Colombians to use their counterfeit money in Ecuador without Ecuador knowing the currency was counterfeit. In July of 2001 there was an arrest of a “major Colombian counterfeit U.S. dollar manufacturer in Ecuador. He was responsible for more than $9 million in counterfeit currency passed in the United States and he had over $90,000 in counterfeit U.S. dollars when he was arrested in Quito, Ecuador (U.S. Secret Service-Miami Herald, July 17, 2001)”. Because of this, the $1 denomination needs to be changed or the $100 “old” denomination needs to be withdrawn from circulation to stop the influx of this type of successful counterfeiting by the drug cartels. The federal government still has no plans to ever change the $1 denomination and they will not withdraw money out of circulation until it is fully replaced with all the new redesigned bills. The likelihood of this type of counterfeiting will continue until at least 2007, when possibly all of the “old” $100 denominations are replaced with the new. There are many other techniques that counterfeiters use to duplicate money and this is why it is extremely important that the U.S continue to change the face of currency. Besides the paper, the most common errors of counterfeiting in the older bills occurs in the portraits, borders, serial numbers, Federal Reserve and Treasury Seals, ink and “raised notes”. For the portrait, “the genuine portrait appears lifelike and stands out distinctively from the background, while the counterfeit is lifeless, flat and details merge into the background (U. S. Secret Service-money 2)”. In the case of the Federal Reserve and Treasury Seals, the “saw-toothed points are clear, distinct and sharp and in the fake they are uneven, blunt or broken saw-toothed.” This is the same with the borders; clear and distinct against blurred and indistinct. (U.S. Secret Service-money 2). The serial numbers “have a distinct style, are evenly spaced, and the serial numbers are printed in the same color ink as the Treasury Seal. In the counterfeit the shade or color may differ from the Treasury seal and the numbers are not uniformly spaced (U.S. Secret Service-money 2)”. Raised notes are the most interesting and very deceiving if not paid attention to. People actually glue numbers from the higher currencies to the corners of the lower currencies. As shown below, if a person is not paying attention to the actual writing of the currency amount on the bill and only looking at the dollar amount in the corners, this bill would be easily accepted. ( Figure 5. $1 bill counterfeited to a $10 bill. Source: http://www.secretservice.gov/counterfeit.shtml) It is important to note the position of security features on the bills in general. Below is a picture and diagram of the “Position of Important Features”. Position Of Important Features (Figure 6: $20 Front (1990-1995 Series. Source: http://www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney/main.cfm/media/releases102003newyork.) (Figure 7. $20 Back (1990-1995 Series. Source: http://www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney/main.cfm/media/releases102003newyork.) Currency redesign took place in 1996, with the change first found in the $100 note. In 1997 the $50 bill was changed, in 1998 the $20 bill and in 2000 the $10 bill and $5 bill were changed. Once again, the $1 bill and $2 bill were not changed. They remain the two only original designs since 1929 without major modifications (frbatlanta 2). These new designs were sixty-seven years in the making. However, the United States federal government did not recall the “old” currency and it still is in circulation even though banks are slowly pulling the old notes out of circulation as new designed money is created. The 1996-2003 series has a lot of new features to keep counterfeiters guessing. But, as stated before, while the old currency continues to be in circulation, it will continue to be counterfeited more because of its ease. Though it has been tried and continues, the counterfeiters test their abilities on the 1996-2003 series notes. Once again, more advancement in technology with copiers and printers has made it possible to counterfeit the new series. “Currently, 94 percent of the domestic counterfeit printing operations suppressed by the Secret Service have been digitally-based, which amounts to $18 million dollars (U.S. Secret Service-money 3)”. Some of the new features include; the portrait, addition of a watermark, a different security thread, color-shifting ink, different location of microprinting, fine-line printing patterns and a low-vision feature. The three most interesting additions are the watermark, the security thread and the color-shifting ink. The watermark was created during the paper-making process depicting the same figure as the portrait and it is visible from both sides when held to the light. (U.S. Secret Service 1). The security thread has a polymer strip that is visible when held to a bright light, contains microprinting- the letters USA, the denomination of the bill and a flag and it also glows a distinctive color under ultraviolet light for each denomination. While the color-shifting ink appears in the right-hand corner is green and when shifted turns black (U.S. Secret Service 1). (Figure 8. $20 Front (1996 Series. Source: http://www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney/main.cfm/media/releases102003newyork) (Figure 9, $20 Back (1996 Series. Source: http://www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney/main.cfm/media/releases102003newyork) Finally, October 9, 2003, the United States Treasury Department releases “The New Color of Money”. “The new redesigned and more colorful $20 bill. The $50 note and $100 note will follow in 2004 and 2005. “Redesign of the $5 and $10 notes is under consideration” and of course, the $1 and $2 notes will not be changed (U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing 1). For some reason the federal government believes in tradition and would like to stay with the original design of the first two original released notes in the history of money in the United States. This new bill symbolizes the return of the colored background wh...