This morning I went to the bank and made the weekly grocery withdrawl. One of the $100's just didn't quite look right the ink was a bit off. I looked at it up against the overhead light, and sure enough, it was Abraham Lincoln's watermark, not Ben Franklin's. Someone had apparently bleached a $5 and printed the $100 over it. The crazy thing was handing it back to the teller and telling her it was a counterfeit, she did not believe me and used the counterfeit detector pen on it. Of course it appeared authentic according to the detector pen, because the paper was real. I had her look at the watermark, and sure enough. Fake. If it had been up to a $20 I would have kept it as a curiousity, but a $100 is a bit much to swallow.
Wow, I would have been half tempted to keep it. Not sure if I would have noticed while still at the bank - great catch! Have to wonder how long that had been in circulation prior to you catching it! Thanks for sharing the story - the mods should move this to the paper money forum as not everyone will see it here and it's a great lesson... Darryl
The colour was off on it, it was just a bit darker, and had no embossing in the ink. When I held it up to the light the dead giveaway was no Ben Franklin in the watermark, but Abraham Lincoln. I subsequently called the branch manager and let her know what happened, since she was in a meeting when all this came up(I know her personally) Anyway, there has apparently been a bit of a rash of these going around in our area lately, and she had specifically instructed her tellers to watch for them. The teller I had gotten it from had purchased it with a bundle of notes from another teller just this morning, and apparently it had come in from a deposit this morning. If it was something like a $20 or something I would have kept it as an education piece, but $100 from grocery money is a bit hard to swallow unless the kids want to eat astro turf for dinner instead.
i agree with you on this one... keeping a $100 fake note is hard when you can easily get your money back for it. a $20 however, is much easier to swallow pun intended lol good catch on your part!!! but then again, who knows.. it might have been circulated again had you not caught it! folks rely on that pen all too much!
I totally agree on the keep/or not. I would have had a tough story to tell the wife when I got home. She would have asked why I was tucking away a $100 loss. She would have then been said "I hope you like your Christmas gift" or "I think I will go shopping for a new Purse" ... Great catch - I wonder if the bank has any way to absolutely tie it to a particular transaction? What a mess for them! At least some customer of theirs did not lose out down the road.
Well done, bet there was a red face or two at the bank as they will now have to go through all there $100 by hand :kewl: Talking of forgeries a report out today estimates that there is upwards of 30 million fake £1 coins in circulation over here in the UK here is a report from the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7628930.stm So if any of you guy's have bought any on ebay check them
I have a few of them. There are fascinating mules etc. that have been made. It is far easier to fathom keeping a forged £1 coin than a note worth £55
This is why I carry a UV Pen Light and ask for my cash in all $50's (the $50's have a bright yellow security thread and are much easier to verify in bright light conditions).
where the feds called in? I would have made a big fuss and try to see if I could get another bengamin thrown into my account for my pain and suffering. LOL j/k
I would have loved to, I was not happy at the prospect of having been handed a counterfeit by a bank employee that should have known better. In the interests of time etc. I let the bank handle it, but I did make her manager aware of the incident not in the interest of punitive action, but as an advisory of the issue.
-your right!! we do rely on the pens too much! i happen to be a bank teller! very interesting to hear about this, i never thought to check for stuff like this. I use the marker all the time and if it turns the right color, I glance at it and put it away. I have come across a lot of countefiets in the past few months and usually they are very easy to spot, they just look different all together most of the time. I am going to have to start looking more at the watermarks! Thanks, useful to know.
we had those bleached $5's going around here months ago. mainly now the counterfeits we get are merely color copies. they are quite sad. i even got 2 from one customer and they were the same note:headbang: duh. then they act like they dont know where they got it from. we dont dare use a pen at my branch its either through the counter which detects counterfeits or we just eye it. we have had plenty of experience picking them out. also being a currency junkie helps me out at work checking out for counterfeits. usually my co-workers will come to me if they have and doubts
