With all the new color copiers around, why can’t counterfeiters just make copies of money?
(Lansing State Journal, March 27, 1996)


Until recently, most of the techniques for preventing counterfeiting had been around since the Civil War.

These include the use of portraits, elaborate borders around the edges of the pictures and the bills (take a look at the $1 bill under a magnifying glass), and the difficult-to-reproduce green ink still in use today.

Starting in 1990, a plastic security thread was incorporated into the bills.  This thread which was used in $10, $20, $50, or $100 notes at first and now also is used in $5 bills lists the value of the bill and the letters USA. Another measure in use is microprinting six-to seven-thousandths of an inch high of "THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA," repeated in a line around the portrait on the bill.

The Bureau of Engraving, those who design and make new bills, will soon release a fundamentally new design for U.S. currency.  Starting with the $100 bill, the new design will incorporate a new larger, off-center portrait, a matching watermark and other high-tech security features.  The measures talked about here make it impossible for simple color copiers to produce fake currency that would fool even the most unsuspecting citizen.

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