Why is it so hard to produce perfect counterfeit money?
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So bank notes/bills are made from either paper or polymer (if there’s more let me know).
The method making the paper or polymer are trade secrets and are made on very expensive equipment that you can’t just go and buy down the local stationary shop.
So you’d have to come up with something that looks similar. That poses a problem because similar won’t be good enough for those who are experienced with spotting real money and fake money.
Then there are security features. This can include microprinting, clear windows in polymer notes, holograms, colour changing ink, water marks and features which are not publicly known. All of these are done through things which are also trade secrets.
All of this makes the notes hard to make, hard to make look real and quite possibly very expensive the more of the features you add.
Because it’s designed that way. From special paper (actually a cloth blend), to water marks, to color changing ink, micro printing, textures, security fibers, the security strip in newer bills, everything about money is made to be difficult to counterfeit. Many counterfeiters can get one or two aspects of a bill down, but getting all of them is incredibly difficult. The paper stock and ink are only made for the government and it’s watched closely. The micro printing can’t be duplicated on a normal printer so getting the presses and plates to make it work is difficult as well.
Money minting companies spend many millions of pounds on technology to make it harder to print a note. The average person does have this sort of money to spend on developing the same sort of machines
Because the institutions in charge of making the real money spend a lot of time, money and effort to make them hard to counterfeit.
Not all bank notes are equally hard to forge, but generally you just have to make the risk/reward ration bad enough that few people try.
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