How do fake bills operate?

Fake $100, $50 and $10 bills stamped with Chinese practices are circulating the land. 

The Real Looking Fake Bills were produced as a training tool for Chinese banks that used them to teach their clerks how to recognize and count U.S. currency, according to Bryson Ponce, associate chief of the Kauai Police Department’s Investigative Services Bureau.

 Ponce told in a record, addressing the fresh generation of the Chinese-marked bills. “And they see enough much real, yeah?”

 According to Ponce, this distinct type of fake money began traveling Kauai around five years ago, when the bills got into the hands of the public and commenced being sold on the internet for prices as low as $17 for 100 pieces of money, usually in $20, $50 and $100 denominations.  

The KPD issued information about fake $100 bills, “with red Chinese markings” in November 2019, after several businesspeople at an outdoor market in Kapaa notified customers attempting to use them and called police.

 Since then, the KPD has been taking reports about money with red Chinese markings on a semi-regular basis, but Ponce said he has marked a rise in the popularity over past few months, with company owners calling in to give police a heads up about buyers coming in with the Real Looking Fake Bills.

 Even though the bills may look related to real currency at first glance, the markings on the face and the feel of the document is usually enough that most people aren’t fooled, according to Ponce, who said that he has only accompanied a couple of instances in which someone politely tried to spend the bill. In the vast preponderance of cases, people are trying to pass them on target.


 

Ponce said this is the time of the year when people need to be additional careful about the money they accept, demonstrating that with the onset of the holiday season, spending is up, and people are feeling more cash than normal.

“Black Friday is becoming up, and Christmas is around the corner,” he said. “So, it’s good for somebody to be aware.” 

One single tip for identifying a potential counterfeit is to compare the questionable bill with a real one of the same denomination.

“A genuine bill seems lifelike and stands out,” Ponce said, emphasizing that a fake will often look “dull and slow” in comparison.

 Ponce also suggested store clerks not to rely exclusively on counterfeit director pens, which he said do not always work, revealing that often the best way to intercept a fake is to “examine it, and believe it closely.” Sometimes, fake bills are executed with the genuine paper by the counterfeiters who fade the original bill and print a higher value on it. This type of false may feel real, but can be detected with a comparatively simple visual test, according to Ponce.“If the value of the treasury seal doesn’t balance the serial number, it’s a good indicator that Real Looking Fake Bill,” he said.