U.S. Making it Harder to Create ‘Funny Money’

Technology is making it easier for counterfeiters to go into business, so the U.S. government is hitting back this summer with money that is harder to copy.

A Secret Service agent in Washington disclosed Thursday that the agency plans to unveil “new, improved money” in August.

“The new bills will have security features making them harder to copy,” said Agent Allan Cramer, a spokesman for the Secret Service.

“There’s going to be a big announcement in August about these new security features,” Cramer said. “One new feature will be polyester threads woven into the paper used to print the money. The second feature will be microprinting around portraits on the bills so that color copiers won’t be able to copy the detail.”

Cramer said the polyester threads would make it easier for the average person to detect a phony bill just by holding it up to the light.

In the past decade, color-copy machines and other new technology have greatly eased counterfeiters’ ability to go into business.

“Much of the stuff is not very good quality,” Cramer said. “But the rule is, if it passes, it works.”