FUNNY MONEY

Fake $100 bills have features just like the real onesMcClatchey News ^ January 10, 2008 Kevin G. Hall
Posted on 01/14/2008 11:07:57 PM PST by canuck_conservative
DANDONG, China — In a Bank of China branch in this river city that borders North Korea, a currency changer stinking of alcohol pulled out a thick wad of cash from around the world and carefully removed a counterfeit 2003 series U.S. $100 bill.

The fake came from a North Korean businessman, he said, adding that, "The ones from Europe are much better." Were these fakes, so close to perfect that they're called "supernotes," made in the isolated communist country? The man, who refused to give his name for fear of arrest, shrugged and said he doubted that the North Koreans were capable of pulling it off.

To the untrained eye, the supernotes look just like the real thing. McClatchy tested its supernote on waiters, journalists, average folks and currency experts, and it was virtually impossible for any of them to distinguish it from a real $100 bill.
Here's why a supernote is super.

* The paper appears to be made from the same cotton and linen mix that distinguishes U.S. currency from others. It includes the watermarks visible from the other side of the bill, colored microfibers woven into the substrate of the banknote and an embedded strip, barely visible, that reads USA 100 and glows red under ultraviolet light.
* The fake $100 bill includes microprint that's \2,000th of an inch tall. It appears as a line to the naked eye, but under a magnification is actually lettering around the coat of Benjamin Franklin or hidden in the number 100 that reads either USA 100 or The United States of America.
* The bills include the same optically variable ink, or OVI, that's used on the number 100 on the bottom right side of the bill. This ink is based on ....
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