I work in a grocery store and I've had a customer ask me if the marks on a bill from a counterfeit pen ever fade. I honestly never thought about this and I'm curious. Any takers?
2007-07-06 18:01:39 · 3 answers · asked by jfluterpicc_98 5 in Politics & Government ➔ Other - Politics & Government
Most of the pens available leave a colored stripe on the bill and - because that impregnates the paper - I don't think that it ever completely disappears. In my case, some marked bills have ended up going through the washer along with clothes, and the marking stripe is still there afterwards.
There are some pens that leave no colored strip at all (the chemicals in them are colorless), so obviously those pens leave no mark on the bills.
A problem, though, according to one bank manager, is that the pens don't always detect counterfeiting, particularly on older, faded bills.
All of these pens use chemical color indicators to test for trace elements left in the paper during the manufacturing process. Genuine Treasury bills are printed on special paper that is (I hope) only available to the government. Commercially available paper usually contains some trace starches and salts, that the pens are supposed to detect.
2007-07-06 21:10:34 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They don't even need to use those pens. You just look for the watermark and the security strip in the bill. Those are the two most difficult things to counterfeit so you never see them in fake bills. Those marks seem to stay, I've had many a bill with one or more residual marks.
2007-07-09 03:02:36 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know either, be interesting to find out.
I carry one with me and check the bills I get back in change at stores, etc. just to share the insulting distrust.
2007-07-06 18:23:30 · answer #3 · answered by Gaspode 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋