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How to Detect Fake Money [VIDEO] watch!

metacafe.com — Easily spot counterfeit money at home with this trick, without any special equipment. Enjoy.

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  • Member148, on 11/30/2007, -2/+41Thanks for sharing. I never knew. If you find a fake bill, just pass it along, because banks nor the federal government will reimburse the money for bogus paper currency. If you get a bogus $100.00 bill and you turn it in, you are out $100.00.
    • TenebrousX, on 11/30/2007, -3/+14it's probably a bad idea to try and pass fake $100 bills
      • terracottapai, on 11/30/2007, -4/+2Also dickish toward whoever you pass it off on.
        Frankly it isn't that hard to tell the difference between counterfeit and genuine; if you can't figure it out by the time you accept the note you should be the one stuck with it.
        • chedabob, on 11/30/2007, -4/+1Why is it dickish? They'll pass it on to someone else, and so on and so forth.
          • deepdiggdude, on 11/30/2007, -0/+2The buck stops...over there somewhere?
        • terracottapai, on 11/30/2007, -2/+4Because somewhere along the line, someone is going to get shafted, and you are effecting that.
        • Lennalf, on 11/30/2007, -3/+3Yes, someone is going to get shafted... so why should it be you? I don't know about you, but I don't exactly wipe my ass with $100 bills. You're not being a dick by refusing to be a victim. That is, unless you go out of your way to do something mean-spirited, like giving it to a homeless person. Counterfeit bills can sometimes travel hilariously long distances before being discovered. I had a fake bill that had been logged all over the country on "Where's George?"... which means that every person before us who logged its location failed to notice the counterfeit. Priceless.
          If you go to a really ***** bank you might be able to get them to take the loss... I would try this on a US Bank or Bank of America because the karma will be working very heavily in your favor.
      • indieguitar, on 11/30/2007, -0/+1If someone is caught spending a fake $100 bill, most likely they are not the ones who made it and had no idea. If a bank spots a counterfeit they will merely tell the person that it is fake and that they have to keep it, with no reimbursement.
        • gizmo01, on 12/01/2007, -1/+0Uhhh no...if you bring a fake bill to a BANK, they're going to take it from you. Do you really think that a bank would give it back to you!?!?! I know for a fact that this is the law in Canada and I'm sure it's the same in the US. In fact, we would have to call the cops in to report it when I worked for a big bank here.
    • jmaxwell, on 11/30/2007, -8/+2if you look outside your window, you will see a party van parked their
    • OwdenBowden, on 11/30/2007, -5/+2I 'm not going to pass it on. The Buck Stops here.
    • themastersb, on 12/01/2007, -0/+6All US money is technically fake so......
      • dantrenner, on 12/01/2007, -0/+2Thank you! I wondered if anyone would say that. Paper is paper. Gold has always been money, it's money today, and it will always be money. Paper is paper and has never been money for very long before it's been inflated. "Inflation" is the expansion of the paper money supply.
  • darkyplasma, on 11/30/2007, -1/+4who checks $1 bills? besides, there are many other ways to check. The feel of a real bill is a little mor rough, you can rub a piece of paper on it(like putting a tac into the wall kind of motion) and some green will come off if its real(with a little bit of iron) you can hold it up to the light. and many other ways.
    • chedabob, on 11/30/2007, -1/+2Are there no hidden things in US bills? Sterling currency has an invisible picture of the queen that can be seen when held up to the light, and a silver strand woven through only one of the two layers of the note.
  • redrock34, on 11/30/2007, -0/+24Just mix fine powdered iron with the ink used to create the counterfeit bills.
  • AshamedAmerican, on 11/30/2007, -2/+48A big red flag is if Benjamin Franklin is wearing a top hat a monocle, carrying a cane.
    • MiDri, on 11/30/2007, -0/+5Or is wearing a turtle neck sweater. Thanks batman!
    • deepdiggdude, on 11/30/2007, -1/+2Ashamed...thanks for the full-on belly laugh!
  • chedabob, on 11/30/2007, -1/+26I'm sure there are counterfeiters out there that are smart enough to put iron filings into the ink to achieve the same effect.
    • internauta, on 11/30/2007, -6/+0probably, but I think the exactly same effect is hard to do.
      • volacide, on 12/01/2007, -0/+2You mean it's difficult to create iron that reacts to a magnetic force? Yeah, I bet.
  • bralynn, on 11/30/2007, -1/+13Would have been much better if they actually showed it *not* working on a counterfeit bill.
  • Dumbledorito, on 11/30/2007, -1/+13Why doesn't the iron oxidize over time, especially if you get the bill wet?
    • McGrude, on 11/30/2007, -0/+4Maybe it is already oxidized or combined with something else when the ink is manufactured.
    • badtzmartin, on 12/01/2007, -0/+2Maybe, but oxidized iron is still magnetic. Plus, if it's essentially powdered and embedded in the ink, it apparently doesn't turn orange.
    • squeekyzebra, on 12/01/2007, -1/+1assuming the iron is completely coated in ink there would be no way for oxygen to get to it, therefore it wouldn't oxidize.
      • phenolholic, on 12/02/2007, -1/+1i love people with limited knowledge of chemistry who make assertitive remarks like yours, like if that's the reason.
  • IIIKrazyKiDDIII, on 11/30/2007, -1/+4I was expecting him to try the magnet on a fake bill.... :P
  • rnreekez, on 11/30/2007, -0/+12This would have been more usefult for me if it was "how to make fake money undetectable"
  • Lennalf, on 11/30/2007, -0/+13Although this is a cute application of science, this is not a good test. Most decent counterfeits are produced by bleaching a legitimate bill and printing a higher denomination on the paper. This is done because the cotton and linen paper used to make money feels very, very different from wood pulp paper. The easiest ways to check a bill are the watermark, the microprint, and the thread that glows under UV (requires a UV bulb).
  • BlackStrain, on 11/30/2007, -2/+4You mean like money printed by the US mint?
  • pentomino, on 11/30/2007, -2/+5George Carlin says the best way to get rid of counterfeit money is to put it in the collection plate at church.

    Incidentally, the iodine pens they sell to detect counterfeit money don't work -- they're easily defeated by just using low-starch paper. And yet the Secret Service doesn't discourage their use. In protest of this, every so often, James Randi goes to the bank and withdraws a few thousand dollars in $50's and $100's and gives them a light dusting with spray-on starch, so that iodine pens will falsely report them as counterfeits.
  • evilpettingzoo, on 11/30/2007, -0/+1Worked with tons of money in Vegas and nobody but nobody counterfeits 100's. People will always try to pass off ones and fives and I have never seen a really good counterfeit bill come through. They feel different, they're usually "whiter", aren't as "crisp". If you really need to test it past the eyeball test burn the corner. If it turns into a big f'en fireball its fake.
    • jcolby, on 11/30/2007, -0/+1"If you really need to test it past the eyeball test burn the corner. If it turns into a big f'en fireball its fake."
      That would be a pretty cruel prank if this wasn't true. "errr....sorry honey, I was just trying to test our cash to make sure it wasn't counterfeit"
  • bralynn, on 11/30/2007, -1/+18The way things are going, soon enough all U.S. money may be considered fake. :(
  • airwalke, on 11/30/2007, -0/+2I just tried this on two of my bills in my wallet. One was attracted to the magnet, and the other was not. Maybe the counterfeiters don't know about this trick after all. :o
  • DulcetTone, on 11/30/2007, -0/+6Why was this video longer than 30 seconds? Note to videographers: music conveys nothing in most instances. Rather than wasting this bandwidth and having distracting titles narrating your video, why not provide a spoken narrative to what the video is relating?
    • NathanielJ, on 11/30/2007, -1/+0I disagree with spoken narrative, because I like to be able to watch things like this from places where I can't have sound turned on. That said though, since most people can read at a pace faster than 2 words per minute, this movie could easily have been about 1/3 of its length.
  • Ramble, on 11/30/2007, -1/+3Hard to reproduce? Tattoo parlours use iron oxide ink...

    Is it me or is US currency not very watertight, sterling and euro have tonnes of security features on, and Aussie money is made of plastic, but American is monochrome and boring.
    • jmaxwell, on 11/30/2007, -0/+1"Hard to reproduce? Tattoo parlours use iron oxide ink..."

      Wow, I guess airports have gotta be a lot of fun.
      • TrevorPace, on 11/30/2007, -0/+0I'm not sure about whether his claim is true or not but if it is I don't see how iron of THAT small amount would cause the sensor to go off.

        All those sensors are are a coil of wire that when you wave it along someone you get induction which then probably is amplified with a Darlington Pair to create a sound.
    • squeekyzebra, on 12/01/2007, -0/+0It is true that U.S. currency doesn't have as many security features as most other currencies. The main reason for this is that there are many times more dollars and twenties floating around than pesos. Overhauling the entire system of bills would be very difficult. It would also be much more expensive to print bills than it is now and with all the bills that the treasury requests, it would cost a lot of money.
  • Nyarlahotep, on 11/30/2007, -7/+4All U.S money is fake.
    • squeekyzebra, on 12/01/2007, -0/+0Fine, then you'll be glad when your employer stops paying you in "fake" money.
      • shakingfist, on 12/02/2007, -1/+1How about when other countries stop accepting it you twit?
  • Truzseeker, on 11/30/2007, -4/+7You bet, all Federal Reserve money is fake, and the Federal Reserve is as federal as Federal Express. See Lewis v. United States 680 F.2d 1239 (9th Cir. 1982) http://www.geocities.com/chrisforliberty/lewis.htm ...
    • NathanielJ, on 11/30/2007, -2/+1If you can't find a better source than a Geocities webpage, we don't care.
  • Mellowman999, on 11/30/2007, -1/+1That was way to long of a video for that *****. They brought the magnet, and thats all you really needed to know.
  • spyd3rweb, on 11/30/2007, -1/+8If its has printed on it "Federal Reserve Note" It's fake and worthless.
  • noseeme, on 11/30/2007, -1/+1I would think that the government would not want people to know this...
  • AllSt4r, on 11/30/2007, -1/+2now i know how to make a better fake =) thanks
  • L0g1X, on 11/30/2007, -1/+1The video says it's easier than using UV light. I think carrying a UV led light is easier and less geeky than a stack of magnets. And you just have to shine on the bill.

    I hate when people make videos so slow thinking it'll take awhile for you to memorize such simple tasks.
  • Jalh, on 11/30/2007, -1/+2is not the easiest way. the easiest way is with the special marker
  • Tilon, on 11/30/2007, -4/+2How to Detect Fake Money:

    1. Is it a Dollar?
  • Archee, on 11/30/2007, -2/+1why not just buy a counterfeit detecting pen for about $3? it would make more sense to carry that around than a magnet.
  • pentomino, on 11/30/2007, -3/+1Those of you who are bitching about the Federal Reserve at this point should know that most strong world currencies are also fiat currencies. The US wasn't the only one to go off the gold standard long ago.
  • dreambucket, on 11/30/2007, -0/+1This is all well and good, but there is a reason that bill acceptors stopped using magnetics to determine denomination and authenticity. It's too easy to reproduce, and the magnetic properties degrade pretty badly over time.
  • 117007, on 11/30/2007, -0/+1why don't you hold it up against a light so you can see the second face (doesn't work on the 1$ bill
  • ronaldmonster, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1Black crayola marker, simple swipe. Turns yellow, you got fake money.
  • SICKd, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1This video is INACCURATE. My band was tipped with counterfeit 1s last week (low, I know), and McDonalds caught them that same night and said there has been an epidemic of them. I tried this magnet trick on it and it fails to detect the counterfeit.

    How you CAN detect this counterfeit is the fact the ink smears right off with a hard rub—and it smells like paper.
  • 5teady, on 12/01/2007, -0/+2This is why i use magnetic ink every time i feel like printing money.
  • schrutefan, on 12/01/2007, -0/+3Why would anyone want to counterfeit US dollars? That would only devalue it even more.
  • rnreekez, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1It's actually pretty easy to tell if a 20 dollar bill is fake. If you ever see the back of a twenty dollar bill, oh, there's some crazy *****, man. There's a dude in the bushes. Has he got a gun? I dunno! RED TEAM GO, RED TEAM GO. Yeah, it's pretty easy.
  • phenolholic, on 12/02/2007, -0/+1better title: how to detect a fake magnet
    /sarcasm
  • shakingfist, on 12/02/2007, -0/+2If it isn't made of gold or silver, or backed by gold or silver, then its counterfeit. I would also include the Amero in the same description.
  • wisam74us, on 01/08/2008, -0/+1You dont need to go through this long process to detect fake money
    Check here for handy fake money detector pens
  • wisam74us, on 01/08/2008, -0/+1http://www.itestcash.com/
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