Counterfeiting With High Resolution Inkjets

Makarand writes "Thanks to the availability of low cost high quality inkjet printers, crooks are now able to produce currency indistinguishable from the real banknotes, at least under dim lighting conditions like that in a bar or a nightclub. The term "digifeiters" is being coined for counterfeiters that use cheap high-resolution printers to produce fake currency. Unlike costly color xerographic copiers that come inbuilt with features to detect security details on banknotes and stop currency copying, no cheap printers come with such feature. An anti-digifeiting system for cheaper printers may consist of printer driver software capable of recognizing data patterns indicating currencies of several countries." I wonder what GimpPrint would think of being forced to print or not print certain documents based on their contents.

Comments

Re:Plastic Notes work well

[Anonymous Coward]

More info and pictures here. Note the clear patches show up as black bits down in the bottom corner.

Correction on the story

[AtariAmarok]

From Anna's News Clippings

"A woman was charged $2.12 at a Diary Queen drive-through in Danville, Kentucky, and she was given $197.88 in change for her $200 bill. In case a clerk might not know that a $200 bill isn't legal tender, this taped-together bill was clearly marked as a 'moral reserve note' and featured George W. Bush's portrait. The White House picture on the bill's back has yard signs reading 'We like broccoli'and 'Rooms not for rent'. Police were notified as to the woman's presence shortly after she left. They do not consider the bill to be a counterfeit one."

New American currency, this year.

[blanks]

To slow down counterfeit bills (about 1 in every 10,000 bills is a counterfeit). The US treasury will be releasing new bills this year. And every 7 years.

Having caught people using counterfeit bills from working in nightclubs and restaurants, it is starting to become a problem.

Here is a link:
new $20 dollar bills.

Re:Where can you get that type of paper?

[puppet10]

Also useful (particularly for the clubs mentioned in the lead-in) the strips also fluoresce under UV in different colors. From the Bureau of Engraving and Printing:

A security thread is a thin thread or ribbon running through a bank note substrate. All 1990 series and later notes, except the $1, include this feature. The note's denomination is printed on the thread. In addition, the threads of the new $5, $10, $20 and $50 notes have graphics in addition to the printed denomination. The denomination number appears in the star field of the flag printed on the thread. The thread in the new notes glows when held under a long-wave ultraviolet light. In the new $5 it glows blue, in the new $10 it glows orange, in the new $20 note it glows green, in the new $50 note it glows yellow, and in the new $100 note it glows red. Since it is visible in transmitted light, but not in reflected light, the thread is difficult to copy with a color copier which uses reflected light to generate an image. Using a unique thread position for each denomination guards against certain counterfeit techniques, such as bleaching ink off a lower denomination and using the paper to "reprint" the bill as a higher value note.