The United States Treasury Department has outlined very specific guidelines for dealing with suspected counterfeit money. On their government website, there is a list of things that they suggest you do for your own security.

First of all, if you suspect a counterfeit, report it to your local police or the U.S. Secret Service. If you are away from home, you should report the suspected counterfeit note to the closest police department located in the same town, or a neighboring one. This should also be done if you are in another country.

Here are some of the guidelines on the website:

• You should not give the bill back to the person who gave it to you.
• Try to delay the person, if possible.
• Avoid putting your fingerprints on the bill. Put it in an envelope or a plastic bag.
• Give the bill to an identified police officer, or mail it to the U.S. Secret Service Agent that is closest to you. Do not give it to anyone else.

There are several ways to spot a counterfeit bill on the website as well. There should be a watermark that is visible when looking at either side of the bill when it is held up to the light. There is also a security thread that is embedded in each bill. This thread is also visible when the bill is held up to the light.

If you have an ultraviolet light available, each bill will glow a certain color under that light (unless it is a $1 bill). If there is no glow, then it could be a counterfeit.

There are further details on dealing with suspected counterfeit bills on the United States Department of Treasury website, www.ustreas.gov. Visit their website for more information on counterfeit bills.

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Tags: counterfeit, counterfeit money, counterfeit note, dollar bills, Security Thread, ultraviolet light, united states treasury department, watermark

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 5th, 2008 at 4:56 pm and is filed under Counterfeiting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.