People may be searching for after-Christmas sales and refunds as holiday shopping comes to an end. Businesses are urged by the Secret Service to be vigilant for counterfeit bills. There have been several recent warnings to companies about using fake money in the national news headlines.
With today’s technology, anyone with a decent computer, a high-end printer, and a basic scanner may enter the realm of producing counterfeit money. It’s more crucial than ever for company owners to be diligent about loss prevention and counterfeit bill identification, given the surge in the production of fake money.
Jaime Carazo, a Special Agent in charge of the Cincinnati Division, says, “There’s more shopping than the rest of the year. So, it is kind of normal to see an uptick in the kind of currency passing.”
“The lines are usually long during Christmas. So, it is the cashiers in a hurry to get the customers processed. So, they pay less attention to the currency,” Carazo added.
“If you’re the last person holding the counterfeit bill, it is you that takes the loss and it cannot be exchanged for a genuine bill,” said Carazo.
However, most counterfeit bills in the tri-state area are low quality and should be detectable by looking closely at them. Carazo says these bills are usually made with an at-home laser or inkjet printer.
A typical indication of a fake bill is also how it feels. The paper used for real money is manufactured from cotton and linen, giving it a thicker and more substantial texture than ordinary paper.
You can get further information on the Secret Service website regarding the security features to check on.
If you want to go one step further and add additional layers of security, you might want to consider specialized tools like counterfeit money detectors to find security vulnerabilities that aren’t obvious to the naked eye.
Keep in mind that it’s an investment in your company’s safety and might save you thousands of dollars and a lot of headaches compared to what you’d experience if you got involved in a lawsuit involving counterfeits.
