One thing to remember is to not let happiness at receiving money blind you to the fact that it might be counterfeit. Ordinary consumers can be victims of this fraud as well as businesses. While advances at the Treasury have made it more difficult for money to be counterfeited, the criminals are always working hard to find ways around the Treasury's roadblocks.

The Treasury Department, who are responsible for all of our coin and paper money, have numerous ways to make sure your money is not fake. Facts and careful observation should be all that is needed, but there are now devices that can be used to confirm that the money being given or received is not counterfit money.

According to the Treasury Department, you should take a known legitimate bill and compare it side by side with the suspect bill. Using a magnifying glass, look closely at the facial features and verify the picture is clear with well defined lines and sharp contrast. Typically, the ink in counterfeit money is often smeared, and its appearance is dull and flat.

The next thing to look at on the bills would be the Federal Reserve and Treasury Seals. On counterfeit bills the pointed border with its crisp and clean saw-edged look, will be lacking. The borders of these seals on fake bills will be missing, or broken and dull, so check for the clarity of the borders on these seals, as well as for blurring of the intricate scroll patterns.

One of the mostly used reference points are serial numbers. You can recognize fake bills by a different font style from real money. Another sign can be contrast in ink colors. The advice is to look for a consistent alignment. The color has to be similar to the color of the seals.

Most people know that the paper used for American currency has little red and blue threads woven into it to make it distinctive. Most may not know that it is a crime to duplicate this type of paper. One trick counterfeiters use is bleaching the ink from lower denominations and printing higher notes on real paper.

The most blatant way of counterfeiting money is to cut the corners from higher denominations and paste them on lower denominations. The Treasury lists as an example a one dollar bill with the ten dollar corner piece pasted over the one. While it seems like this would never work, it is surprising how many times people accept even obviously counterfeit money when they are in a hurry. Infrequently we find coins that have been faked and generally these are only the very rare ones.

Recently American currency has been updated to help prevent counterfeiting. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing says the new bills have more colors but the real security features are much more sophisticated. The $50 bill has color shifting ink that changes when you tilt it, a watermark, microprinting, and a special imbedded "USA 50" thread. Bills will be redesigned every seven to ten years to stay ahead of the crooks.

While advances at the Treasury have made it more difficult for money to be counterfeited, the criminals are always working hard to find ways around the roadblocks. If you are not certain that a bill you have is genuine, it is suggested by the Treasury Department that you compare it against one that is. An amazingly brazen trick is cutting the corners from higher denominations and pasting them on lower ones hoping no one will notice. We all know George Washington is not on $10 bills, but someone rushed might accept even obviously counterfit money. Visit the Treasury Department's website for more helpful information.