Counterfeiting $1 & $2 Bills?

lettow,

I am talking about also bleaching $1 bills and printing $2 bills on the paper, both denominations, without a watermark.

Also, in the past I mentioned, counterfeiters can still bleach a $1 or $2 bill, and print a pre-1990 Series $5-$100 bill which had NO security features, on the paper without the watermark, and the counterfeiters can make up the story that their counterfeit $100s were given to them by "grandma and grandpa" and thus would "explain" the older design, which would evade the pen test. I've mentioned this before.

But my main question was, Can counterfeiters make any money off bleaching a $1 bill, and printing a $2 bill on the paper since neither the $1 bill, nor $2 bill has a watermark(s)? (Which I'm hoping the redesigned $2 bill gets, so that the only bill without a security feature, will be the $1 bill, even though I think both the $1 and $2 bills should have a security thread and a watermark of some type, to make "perfect" counterfeiting, darn near impossible, if not totally impossible) They don't have to redesign the $1 bill to add a watermark, security thread and a tint of color, and with the $2 bill redesigned with the next currency redesign, I can't see why they wouldn't add these features automatcally to that denomination. Even though the $2 bill is rarely counterfeited, if they are going through the troubles of redesigning it, I don't see why they don't just give it the whole works.

Okay, on to my main question: Would counterfeiters make any profit off bleaching $1 bills, and printing bogus $2 bills on the same paper? Would they gain a little? Would they gain a lot? Would they gain nothing at all?

jbuck,

I was thinking, for some reason, that counterfeiters may pay around $1.50 to counterfeit a $2 bill on a bleached $1 bill, but I could be wrong. I just thought that a fifty cent profit would be worth it to low scale counterfeiters, who are just looking to make chump change. Which was why I was thinking the $1 and redesigned $2 bill should have a watermark, and a security thread. In fact, they were considering putting a security thread in the $1 bill, and I think they said it would be somewhere to the left of George Washington's portrait if they did so. This was before the first major "big head" redesign. I'm not sure if they were also thinking of adding a security thread to the $2 bill as well, as the $2 bill was not mentioned. And with the orginal plans when the first redesign came out, they had planned to redesign the $1 bill, and were wishy-washy on redesigning the $2 bill, but when I later wrote a letter to the BEP asking if the $2 bill would be redesigned, their reply was "The $2 note will be redesigned" So I am wondering what made the Treaury change their mind on redesigning the $1 and $2 bills all the way back then. I believe with the $1 bill it was the vending and dollar bill reader issue, and the $2 bill was not used or counterfeited enough, but at least the $2 bill is finally getting the redesign. Hopefully the visially impaired and blind will stir up enough complaints to get the $1 bill redesigned in the future as well.

Treasury does not get seignorage on FRNs. The Fed pays the same amount to the BEP for producing a $100.00 note as it does for a $5.00 note.

If the Fed paid face value for paper money from the Bureau, there would be no national debt.

I don't know why anyone would counterfeit a $2 note to begin with. Anytime I spend one (a real one) it gets a good looking over by the cashier. Many don't even know $2 bills exist. Actually a lot of money handlers don't know of half dollars or 1928 or 1934 series notes.

I'm not a counterfeiter, nor do I play one on TV, but my thinking is that they're not going to print very many fake ones or twos as that the profit margin isn't the same as it would be for a twenty or a hundred.

That said, I have seen photos of fake ones, but those were from the days when ones were silver certificates, and a one was worth a lot more than it is today.

I have seen fake fives, tens, and twenties displayed at a convenience store near the L.A. airport that had apparently taken them in transaction.

Yes, and that was all because the vending and other small businesses complained about having to reprogram so many $1 bill readers, and scrap out and replace those that were too old to have the ability to be reprogrammed for a new design $1 bill. It just wasn't cost effective.

My solution to that was, since most vending machines accept dollar "coins", they should have "Dollar Coin Machines" set up next to the vending machines that CAN be reprogrammed for a new redesigned $1 bill, and keep reprogramming the dollar coin machine, for ever new $1 bill that comes out every so many years, and the machine would spit out a dollar coin at you. Eventually, people might say, "The heck with this" and just start carrying dollar coins automatically, and the $1 bill might die a slow, natural death, without an Act of Congress.

The $2 FRN, however, CAN still be redesigned, as there are no laws or Acts in place to stop the redesign. However, the $2 bill redesign will not be happening for many years, as I talked yesterday with my BEP friend, asking her if the $2 bill would be redesigned next year, since the Series 2009 $2 bill print run was only supposed to last until 2014, and she said that, the only way the redesigned $2 bill could come out, is if it had the embossed features planned for the "Meaningful Access" redesign in 2020, which, as of now, is starting with the $10 bill, and nothing can come out any sooner, unless an Act of Congress is mandated. So there will likely be Series 2013 or Series 2014 current style $2 bills printed for the time being. They should be Series 2013, since Jack Lew took office as Secretary of the Treasury this year, and that is one of the main things they usually go by, as far as series year changes go. I do wonder if the BEP will release the next redesign, one denomination per year, instead of one denomination every two or more years, because, if they release each new denomination one year apart, the latest the new $2 bill could come out is 2025.