Counterfeit banknote detection pen: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:21, 27 February 2019

Revision as of 23:20, 18 April 2019

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Counterfeit banknote detection pens are used to detect [[counterfeit]] [[Swiss franc]], [[euro]] and [[Federal Reserve note|United States banknotes]], amongst others. Typically, genuine banknotes are printed on paper based on cotton fibers and do not contain the starches that are reactive with iodine. When the pen is used to mark genuine bills, the mark is yellowish or colourless.

Such pens are most effective against counterfeit notes printed on a standard printer or [[photocopier]] paper.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://money.howstuffworks.com/question212.htm |title=How does a counterfeit detector pen work? 123 | work=HowStuffWorks |accessdate= 2008-03-28}}</ref> The chemical properties of US banknotes prior to 1960 are such that marking pens do not work.<ref>{{cite web

|url= http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v10n50a25.html

|title= OLD PAPER MONEY AND COUNTERFEIT-DETECTING PENS

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==Reception==

Pen manufacturers claim such pens will detect a great majority of counterfeit bills, and are an easy counterfeit detection method that does not require expensive gadgets.{{Citation needed|date=May 2013}}

===Critical reception===

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====False positives====

The effectiveness of the pens may be affected by external methods. Simply having a banknote pass -through laundry, depending on the soaps and bleaches used, can cause a bill to fail the test when it is otherwise accepted. Additionally, it was discovered that treating a counterfeit note with a dilute solution of [[vitamin C]] will cause a false negative: that is, it will respond to the iodine-based ink as though it were made of the same paper as a valid banknote.<ref>{{cite web|title=How do Counterfeit Pen Tests Work?|date=20 July 2017|work=Banknote World Resource Hub|author=Abdullah Beydoun |url=https://www.banknoteworld.com/resource-hub/portfolio/how-do-counterfeit-pen-tests-work/}}</ref>

==See also==