I’ll help kick off the new thread with a general question, open to US or non-US members. Has anyone ever gotten a counterfeit banknote in circulation? I had the chance to examine some Columbian counterfeits of US $1 and $20 denominations (circulated in Ecuador, which is dollarized), and once I am back in the US in a few weeks I will try to get my hands on pics of them and post them. It will surprise you what determined counterfeiters can do. On the 20s (I saw two of them), they are the new variety, with a plastic strip imbedded, a fake watermark, and all the coloration of a real note (except for the changing-color “20”). The quality was not perfect, but I am sure they would pass a brief examination. It is my opinion that the more complicated a note is, the easier it is to make a decent forgery if you put the effort into it. What I mean is, embedded plastic strips are not hard to fake, and neither are watermarks. If people are used to seeing a strip/watermark and thinking the note is real, they will see what they are looking for and not focus on printing quality.
I work in a bank where we get tons of C/F notes and the quality is quite poor. The 20s hardly have any watermarks and the 100s watermarks are white onlines that are visible if the note is flat on the counter. Once got 5 $100s in a row.
What do they say when you catch them? Do you think they are the forgers, or just innocent victims? Do you confiscate their fakes, or do you give them back? I assume the bank gets nothing for fake notes it takes in. I am wondering if you do (or have a right to) take them from customers when they try to deposit them.
One of my coworkers received a counterfeit $1 bill in change. It was an obvious fake; the printing was wrong and it wasn't even the correct size. He decided to keep it.
We keep the note and fill out a C/F report for Secret Service and notify the customer. It is considered a loss and then maybe able to take it off their taxes as such. We sometimes make mistakes and some bills come back as geninue.
