Counterfeit money in the United States has become such a widespread problem that it’s possible to get counterfeit money in your change when you buy something from major retailers like Walmart.

Most large retailers don’t want to spend the money or time to properly train their employees on how to spot counterfeit money. Instead, they rely on marker c pens containing ink that is said to change color when marked on counterfeit money.

The reason the ink changes color when marked on a counterfeit banknote is that almost all counterfeit banknotes are made of paper.

Money is not made of paper but of cloth, a blend of 25% linen and 75% cotton. That’s why money feels the way it feels.

But what most don’t realize is that many of these pens will tell you the same thing when marked on ordinary newsprint – it’s real! Many of these counterfeit note markers do not work. Very few people think of testing them and are unaware of it.

It is therefore very likely that a seller will accept counterfeit money and put it in the register without realizing that it is a counterfeit.

Of course, the clerk also takes change from the same register and gives the same counterfeit money to an unsuspecting customer.

You may even have counterfeit money in your wallet right now and not even know it.

Real or fake – can you spot the difference?

Most Americans have no idea.

One of the easiest ways to recognize this is to feel it. Since real money is printed on fabric, if you feel copy paper, it is most likely fake.

College students aren’t the smartest people on earth. They will buy the most advanced color copiers and just make copies from a $10 or $20 bill and try to pass them around town.

They forget that not only does it not feel like fabric, but that every single note has the exact same serial number as the original.

If someone hands you two or more bills of the same denomination, check the serial numbers. If they match, call the police immediately as one or all of them are fake.

There are methods counterfeiters use to get around the problem of paper-feeling and serial numbers not being different.

One of the most common methods is to take four $10 bills or four $20 bills and cut off a corner from each of them and tape those corners onto a one dollar bill.

All of a sudden, those $1 bills turn into fake $10 bills or fake $20 bills that not only feel like real bills but also have different serial numbers. They also pass the fake pen test.

They then use these tampered bills to buy items for as little as a dollar or two, and the clerk gives them back real money in change (provided, of course, the vendor hasn’t previously unknowingly accepted counterfeit bills).

• Not knowing that they just put a manipulated bill in the register, they then give it to an unsuspecting customer as change. That could be you.
• It’s easy to share such manipulated notes because people don’t look at the note itself. You just take a look at the number in the corner. If there’s a 10 in the corner, it has to be a $10 bill, right?
• If they actually looked at the note, they would find that it has been tampered with because the wrong president is written on it.
• Everyone knows Washington is on the $1 bill. It’s not on the $10 bill or the $20 bill.
• Do you know which President is on the $2 bill? On the $5?
• Who is on the $10 bill? Who is on the $20 bill? The $50 bill? The $100 bill?
• Not knowing can cost you.

Memorizing which president should appear on which note can help you spot a counterfeit bill and avoid being scammed out of your hard-earned cash.

It is not a crime to be in possession of a counterfeit bill unless you are trying to trick someone by giving it to them to buy something. If you do, you buy counterfeit money could face 15 years in prison and a $15,000 fine. (USC Title 18 Section 472)

(Answers: Thomas Jeffferson is on the $2, Abraham Lincoln on the $5, Alexander Hamilton on the $10, Andrew Jackson on the $20, Hiram Grant on the $50 (Grant’s first name is not Ulysses as is commonly believed. ) and Benjamin Franklin is on the $100 bill.)

Allen Farlow is an experienced author and a very successful professional garage sale and swap meet seller who handles cash on a daily basis and knows how to spot a counterfeit bill in seconds.