Many people who work with cash on a regular basis develop a feel for the difference between legitimate and counterfeit money. Others may receive an occasional bill in change that simply doesn't feel right. There are a number of ways to tell if money is counterfeit, but it helps to recognize the safeguards and counter-measures built into legitimate paper currency as well. Even the most sophisticated counterfeiter is likely to miss something.

Real money is generally printed on special paper with a high amount of cotton fiber. This allows paper currency to be folded several thousand times without tearing. In many cases, counterfeiters use a cheaper form of bond paper that is not nearly as durable. If the paper is not treated properly, the ink will bleed into the fibers and create blurred or blotchy images. A visual inspection between a suspicious bill and a known bill should reveal any obvious printing errors or paper quality differences.

Crimes Involving the Use of Counterfeit Currency. The use of counterfeit currency can violate both federal and state law. Under federal law, the use or attempted use of counterfeit currency is illegal if the person has the intent to defraud the recipient. A conviction for the offense carries up to 20 years in prison and a fine. Real notes have minute fibers embedded in the paper; counterfeiters try and replicate this, but the fibers may not be embedded. A watermark on a $100. The paper of a counterfeit bill will also feel different than that of genuine bank notes. It may be more limp than the special paper that real notes are printed on.

The Counterfeit Detection Act of 1992 requires any reproduction of U.S. Currency be printed on one side only and being significantly larger or smaller than real bills. EBay also requires listings. Real Versus Counterfeit. Jan 5, 2012 by Doug Shields. I sold a watch last year on Craigslist. It was a Movado and it was a great watch but I had found a replacement for it and needed to get it sold. Someone called my wife and arranged to come by and pay her cash for the watch. I got home later and got the money and put it in my wallet without a. Counterfeit bills have all the superficial elements of real money, but they’re dead currency, and that’s exactly how I would describe my previous relationships—on the outside, they had all the elements that looked like love, but their dynamics and function qualified them as dead-end “healing agreements” of all sorts.

Another way to tell if money is counterfeit is to look for special security measures built into real paper currency. Holding the bill up to a light source should reveal a watermark, essentially a shadow image depicted in the center. This watermark is created during the paper making process and cannot be duplicated by a photocopier. The lack of a discernible watermark should be an indication the money is fake.

In US currency, there should also be an embedded security strip that denotes the denomination of the bill. This is another anti-counterfeiting measure added to the bill during the printing process and cannot be seen in reflective light. By holding the bill up to a light source, you should be able to see and read the strip along one side. This process of implanting a plastic foil strip into the actual paper took almost a decade to perfect, so counterfeiters would have a very difficult time duplicating it without the specialized equipment.

Real Counterfeit Money For Sale

Many places, such as grocery stores, retail outlets, and restaurants, that deal with large amounts of cash have other ways to tell if money is counterfeit. A pen loaded with a special reactive ink can be swiped across a suspicious bill to determine if it is real or fake. If a visible mark appears, the money is considered legitimate. If the mark remains invisible, this indicates the paper has not been treated with the proper chemicals and is most likely counterfeit. These pens can be purchased at many office supply stores for personal use as well.

Real US currency also contains special inks that change color when viewed at different angles. If a suspected bill's government seal and other denominational indicators do not change from black to green when viewed at an angle, the bill may very well be counterfeit. Even the most sophisticated photocopiers or offset printers can have trouble reproducing extremely fine print, so an examination of a bill under a magnifying glass should reveal small letters hidden within the background scrolls and images. If these microscopic letters are missing or unreadable, the bill is most likely counterfeit.

There are other ways to tell if a particular bill is counterfeit or not, but it may simply be safer to turn suspicious money over to law enforcement officers or bank officials for further investigation. In general, counterfeiters tend to concentrate their efforts on larger denominations, such as $10s, $20s, $50s, or $100s in US currency. Small purchases made with exceptionally large currencies may be an effort to launder a counterfeit bill by receiving legitimate change, for example. This is a red flag for many retailers, so don't be surprised if your own larger bills are examined very closely when making cash purchases.

… a core concept in Leadership Skills and Atlas 109

Concept description

In his book, Real Leadership – Helping People and Organizations Face Their Toughest Challenges, Dean Williams sets out the features of real leadership and contrasts them with the features of counterfeit leadership.

Features of real leadership

According to Williams:

Real leadership gets people to face reality
Real leadership engages the group to do adaptive work
Real leadership involves the pursuit of insight and wisdom
Real leadership is the willingness to be responsible

Signals of counterfeit leadership

After examining a series of cases Williams observes that “a pattern begins to emerge that can provide vital signals that one is in the ‘danger zone’ and might be providing counterfeit leadership.” These primary indicators are

a preoccupation with dominance,
a failure to engage the group and its various subfactions in figuring out and facing the real work of progress,
an unwillingness to explore beyond one’s comfort zone to find a solution, and
the conviction that you alone have “the truth.”

Counterfeit Money That Looks Real

Williams summarized the distinction as follows:

The real leader

Gets people to face reality as it pertains to their condition, threats, and opportunities

Mobilizes the group to do adaptive work and adjust their values, habits, practices, and priorities

Pursues the needed insight and wisdom to lead

Takes responsibility for being the source of movement

The counterfeit leader

Places an excessive emphasis on getting people to follow

Is preoccupied with dominance as a control mechanism

Fails to fully engage the group and its many factions

Is unwilling to look for solutions beyond one’s comfort zone and the prevailing group paradigm

Holds the conviction that the leader alone has the truth and knows the way forward

Real Versus Counterfeit Money Cases

Source: Chapter 1 in Williams, Dean, Real Leadership – Helping People and Organizations Face Their Toughest Challenges, San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2005.

Atlas topic, subject, and course

The Study of Leadership and Communication (core topic) in Leadership Skills and Atlas 109.

Page created by: Ian Clark, last modified on 9 January 2016.

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Image: Williams book, at http://www.amazon.com/Real-Leadership-Organizations-Toughest-Challenges/dp/1576753433, accessed 7 January 2016.