With the holidays are not too far away, merchants here need to keep a keen eye on counterfeit money.

Bogus money can be passed around at both small and large businesses, but large business tend to be the favorite target, and again, especially during the holidays.

With the high activity and large volume purchasing at large stores, criminals take that opportunity to slip counterfeits through the clerk.

Since January of 2007, Douglas police have taken 41 reports of counterfeit money that has been passed in the city, said Marcus Gonzales, the spokesman for the Douglas Police Department.

Twenty dollar bills are typically the denomination that is faked and passed around, Gonzalez said. Police, though, have found fake five dollar bills as well as one hundred dollar bills.

The Douglas Police Department offers a few tips on how to detect counterfeits.

Step one--look and feel

This is as far as most people go, and it's good enough most of the time. US bank notes are printed on special paper that's 75% cotton and 25% linen. The linen gives it an extra stiffness that's distinctive. There are also red and blue fibers imbedded in the paper. Bank notes are printed with a process called "intaglio" that leaves ink on top of the paper, giving the money a distinctive texture. The printing is also very high quality, so the lines are sharp and clear, not broken, fuzzy, or blobby.

Step two--color-shifting ink

Bank notes bigger than the $5 use color-shifting ink to print the number showing the denomination in the lower-right-hand corner. Just look at the numbers head-on, and then from an angle. For genuine notes the color will shift (copper-to-green or green-to-black).

You can get this far pretty discreetly.

The look and feel you're checking automatically as soon as the bill is handed to you, and you can confirm the color-shifting ink in a quick glance. Going further will require that you hold the note up to the light--which is basically saying that you think you might have gotten counterfeit money. A lot of people hesitate to do that, but it's the next step if you want to be sure.

Step three-watermark

All bills bigger than a $2 now have a watermark--hold the bill up to the light to see it. For the $10, $20, $50, and $100, the image matches the portrait. That's also true of the current $5 bill, but on the new $5 coming out in early 2008, the watermark will be a big numeral 5. Either way, you can use it to spot bills that have been bleached and reprinted with a higher denomination.

The watermark is part of the paper and is visible from the rear of the note as well.

Step four--security thread.

All bills bigger than a $2 have a security thread running vertically through the bill. Like the watermark, you hold the bill up to the light to see it.

The thread has text with the bill's denomination and an image that is unique to that denomination. The different denominations have the threads in different places, again so you can spot bills that have been bleached and reprinted with a higher denomination. (The threads also glow different colors under ultraviolet light, but that's not much help to ordinary folks.)

Genuine bills

That's it. If a bill:

ˆ looks and feels like a US bank note

ˆ has color-shifting ink

ˆ has a watermark that matches the portrait

ˆ and has a security thread with text that matches ˆ the denomination then it's almost certainly a genuine bill.

What about older bills?

There are still some old bills around, from before these security features were added (starting in 1996). Now that it's been more than ten years, it's about time to simply refuse to accept old bills. Bills that old, that are still in circulation--especially high-denomination bills--are much too likely to be counterfeit. If it is genuine, the holder can easily enough take it to the bank and get some new currency, so your refusing to take it is no burden on an an innocent holder of old but genuine currency.

How To Detect Counterfeit Money

1) The president's face is more lifelike than on counterfeit money.

2) There are fine lines printed behind the president and behind the building on the other side. These lines are smooth and unbroken.

3) There is a polymer thread woven in the bill. The thread in the $100 bill reads "USA 100" and the $50 bill reads "USA 50". The thread can't be reproduced with copiers or printers but is visible when the bill is held up to a light or appears yellow when in ultraviolet light. Genuine bills also have red and blue threads embedded in the paper. On counterfeit money the lines look like they're printed on the paper but on genuine bills the lines appear to be in the paper.

4) There is a watermark or "shadow" to the right of the face on the bill. It isn't visible unless the bill is held up to the light.

5) Color shifting ink is used for the number in the lower right hand corner on the front of the bill. The ink appears green until the bill is held at an angle, then the ink looks black. The ink is also "never dry" ink, which means that it can be rubbed off. Sometimes; however, the ink on counterfeit money can also rub off. On the $50, the number 50 is printed in large print.

7) On the $100 bill micro printed words are written around the portrait. To the naked eye it looks like a black line but under a microscope the words "The United States of America" can be read. On the $50 bill, "50" is written around the portrait and "United States of America" is printed in Grant's collar.

8) Genuine bills have the Federal Reserve and Treasury seals. The saw-tooth points on the seal are clear, distinct, and sharp. The seals on counterfeit money may have uneven, blunt, or broken points.

9) Along with the seals on each bill there's a serial number printed in the same color ink as the seal. Numbers and letters are evenly spaced.