How to know if your money is fake

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- As the holidays approach, holiday shopping is in full swing. However, the Fulton County Sheriff's Office and Broadview Federal Credit Union are warning cash payers to be extra cautious to avoid counterfeit money.

According to Fulton County Sheriff Richard Giardino, someone was giving others fake $50 bills last week in Johnstown.

"It was not your usual exchange of money at a cashier, teller or clerk. An individual was approached in the store, and said 'Hey could you give me two 20's and a 10 for a 50?' And he said yes and made the exchange," said Giardino.

However, it wasn't just average fake money. This bill said "For Motion Pictures" in the top right, but the victim did not notice.

"You look at it quickly and it says 'for entertainment only' but if you don't see that it looks like a regular bill," said Giardino.

Broadview Federal Credit Union Senior Vice President of Financial Crimes Shane Shoemaker said this type of entertainment money is not really counterfeit money because it's supposed to be used on production sets. However, there are other bills that are more difficult to decipher.

"One of the things that usually stands out quite a bit is the color changing and reflective ink that's printed in the lower corner for the 100 dollar bill, its the bell symbol," said Shoemaker. "The counterfeits have a really hard time of mimicking this successfully."

Shoemaker said people falling victim to counterfeit money is not a daily occurrence, but it is certainly not uncommon. Another way to tell if your money is fake is by examining the blue stripe down the middle.

According to Shoemaker, if you can pull at the blue line and it comes off a little, your bill is fake. He also recommends using light to your advantage, when testing out your bills. Shoemaker compared a fake $100 bill and a real $100 bill when held up to a light.

"It’s pretty clear looks like a real portrait image, if we then take a look at the counterfeit one, it looks much more poorly defined, almost kind of cartoonish, it doesn’t really look at all like the one we just looked at," said Shoemaker.

Another important aspect is texture. The real dollar bill will be more textured than a fake one. Shoemaker said the fake one can often be patchy and not as continuous. If someone does fall victim to counterfeit cash, Shoemaker said there is unfortunately not much they can do.

"If someone brings in a counterfeit we usually work with that person to submit to a secret service but oftentimes if people get a counterfeit, unless they can get the money back and prove, usually they're out the money, there's not much recovery," said Shoemaker.

Giardino believes this is something people should look out for because there is a chance it can happen again.

"It's something new and again if they did it once, they probably have those bills floating around and they'll do it again," said Giardino. "The scammers, they take advantage of people who are honest decent people who want to help."

Shoemaker recommends using debit and credit cards when you're concerned because they offer more protection in this aspect. Going forward, he advises people to be careful when getting change at the store, or making cash exchanges in general.

"I would just make sure that you know what to look for and you take a second to really look at the bill you received," said Shoemaker.