Yesterday, I used my first redesigned ten dollar bill at Shake Shack. Of course, I didn't realize that until I felt it in my hands. Earlier in the week I was given one of the new tens by a coworker for a delivery order. My first reaction was, "Wow, they changed the texture a lot. Oh, and it's a bit smaller than regular bills. Wait a minute..." Althought my coworkers were skeptical, it was definitely a fake.
It also dawned on me that the introduction of the new ten was a perfect opportunity for counterfeiters. The ten dollar bill is a small denomination that is rarely checked by retailers and since it was newly redesigned people could be fooled long enough to let a bunch of them slide, just like I nearly did. Aside from the size and texture, the bill looked the part. If I was manning a cash register and it was slipped between a few other bills, I doubt I'd have noticed.
Also Interesting:You probably noticed the image of a ten above has the word "specimen" on it in bright red lettering. This is because Photoshop uses an anti-counterfeiting mechanism built at the behest of the U.S. government and international banks. If you try to open an image of a banknote, you are often sent to rulesforuse.org, but this may have changed as mine just printed "specimen" on the bill.
03/29/06 3:49 PM
Um, it's 'counterfeit.'
03/29/06 3:56 PM
He he. Nice catch. Fixed it.
03/29/06 4:41 PM
I wonder how many counterfeit bills i've spent without even knowing it!
04/01/06 3:43 PM
Does it have the hologram, watermark, etc? I'm just wondering if counterfeiters are good enough now to bypass all of the different anti-counterfeit measures. Although, I'm guessing if they couldn't get the size right then they probably didn't bother with the details.
04/04/06 2:39 PM
Since we redid out $10 and $20 bills in Canada we've had a huge problem with counterfeit bills. All convenience stores have scanners to check authenticity and don't even think about trying to use a $50 or a $100 bill. I'm sure that isn't far off for you guys! Enjoy ;)