Do I have a counterfeit 20?

lmviterbo · Post by **lmviterbo** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 6:27 am

I registered a 20€ U004B3 M3 note which is poorly printed and could be counterfeit (a very good one, though, in that case).

Are you eurogeeks capable of telling just by the full serial+shortcode?

I am able to describe why and where I think it's poorly printed, if someone is interested. I don't have a scanner but I will try to take a snap of it somehow. And on Monday I plan to go to a bank so they can confirm. BTW, is any bank able to tell me if it's counterfeit, or just the Central Bank?

A 3rd question: has any tracker found a counterfeit note yet?

Senior · Post by **Senior** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 12:57 pm

Compare your note with one that is definitely real and check the following:

- does the metal strip in the note contain text (hold the note up to the light)?
- does the shiny strip on the right side of the note contain micro-letters (use a magnifing-glass!)?

When both questions are answered with "yes" the chance that your note is real is over 99,9%.

Most bank employees have no clue whatsoever on how to check banknotes and coins. Don't bother asking them.
Greetings,

Senior

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 2:59 pm

Senior wrote:- does the metal strip in the note contain text (hold the note up to the light)?
- does the shiny strip on the right side of the note contain micro-letters (use a magnifing-glass!)?

Yes to both.

Thanks a lot for the answers. I didn't know there were notes printed so badly. There's a stain left by another note on the white bridge side, where you can even tell (with a magnifying glass) the serial number of the note that left the mark. Plus, the lattice of small green triangles around the big white stars is blurred and disaligned. And the paper has a lot more "straws" than usual.

Well, I hope someone else tracks it now that I'm going to leave it. (Or do you still suggest the 0.01% chance of being fake is the matter for me to check it under some expert?)

Senior · Post by **Senior** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 6:17 pm

Anonymous wrote:There's a stain left by another note on the white bridge side, where you can even tell (with a magnifying glass) the serial number of the note that left the mark. Plus, the lattice of small green triangles around the big white stars is blurred and disaligned. And the paper has a lot more "straws" than usual.

Depending on how this strange appearance occured it might be an interesting note for a note-collector.
Greetings,

Senior

Schaza · Post by **Schaza** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 5:11 pm

lmviterbo wrote:I registered a 20€ U004B3 M3 note which is poorly printed and could be counterfeit (a very good one, though, in that case).

Are you eurogeeks capable of telling just by the full serial+shortcode?
(As a matter of fact, I registered two twenties in a row, and wrote down the comment about its possible fakeness on the wrong one of th two.)

I am able to describe why and where I think it's poorly printed, if someone is interested. I don't have a scanner but I will try to take a snap of it somehow. And on Monday I plan to go to a bank so they can confirm. BTW, is any bank able to tell me if it's counterfeit, or just the Central Bank?

A 3rd question: has any tracker found a counterfeit note yet?

Can you contact me with e-mail, and send me picture of that note anyhow?

haemoglobin · Post by **haemoglobin** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 8:09 pm

lmviterbo wrote:A 3rd question: has any tracker found a counterfeit note yet?

if i`m right JOERGB30 once entered two 100 euro notes he saw in bulgaria (luckily they weren`t his)

Fons · Post by **Fons** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 9:32 pm

haemoglobin wrote:
lmviterbo wrote:A 3rd question: has any tracker found a counterfeit note yet?
if i`m right JOERGB30 once entered two 100 euro notes he saw in bulgaria (luckily they weren`t his)

Ans had a €50/X/G note once, it was a fake note.

byrnefm · Post by **byrnefm** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 1:27 pm

You should see the state of the €5 notes circulating around Ireland - some are so limp that it's impossible to tell whether the metal strip is legitimate or not! I've even seen a few where the metal thread was peeling off.

We like to get good use out of our notes here ;)

lmviterbo · Post by **lmviterbo** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 7:00 am

I finally did a 1200 dpi scan of the possible counterfeit, along with a legit note, and made a thourough exam, checking all the security features I know of, except for the magnetic properties, which I didn't test

As byrnefm suggested, it seems to be just a badly printed bill, and most probably not strange enough to be of interest to a collector like Senior.

Back to business it goes.

Sorry, Schaza, for not having sent you the scanning, but it was 30 Mb+, and anyway I had made up my mind on the subject.

Thank you all for the answers.

Bebbo · Post by **Bebbo** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:36 pm

My local bar manager confiscated a fake 20.
He let me take the numbers but then got rid of it.

Here's the link
http://www.eurobilltracker.eu/index.php ... 9a22f956bf

Someone else might enter the real note or another fake (i'm sure they prob use the same number over and over).

Klazu · Post by **Klazu** » Sun May 08, 2005 6:07 pm

Hi all! I think now, that I have a counterfeit 20€ bill! I still have the note (don't know what to do with it!) at home. The paper of this note feels either VERY worn or it's not even the real paper used in notes. The bill seems to have all security markings visible to the eye, althought the narrow middle stripe + the "20 €" hologram in the middle are VERY worn (or very badly printed?) away. Althought the note seems to have at least somekind of clittering hologram stripe on front right (so it's not made with a normal home printer, which the odd paper quality suggested). The note is almost ripped to two pieces from the middle but it has been taped back together. I received this note from a local gas station in the middle of other 20€, so I didn't regognize this note until at home. If I would have got only this note, I would have immediately started to wonder how it feels. So now I'm in very bad situation, where I'm afraid to lose my money!

The short code / serial combination is also impossible! EBT won't recognize the serial! Short code is J003E2 and the serial begins S987222*****. Notice the very high numbers in the serial! I have entered only one just as high serial before (J006G5/S98522*****, it went well into the database 6 months ago). The other S-notes I have are all below S109.

So what kind of note am I having and what should I do with it? I can post pictures and full serials, if that would help. Could avij please check if we have such combinations in database? Please help me with this matter.

avij · Post by **avij** » Mon May 09, 2005 10:04 am

There are no S987 notes in the database, but a few S98 notes: 20€ notes from Oulu (x2), Lahti and Helsinki. They may be errors or (forgive me for my imagination) counterfeit notes as well.

hoppa · Post by **hoppa** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:45 pm

today I got a counterfeit

I saw it only because it could'nt be entered in EBT. The serial was not excepted.

Then I started looking closer and I saw several features were missing. Last check was with the euro tester. It defenitly is a counterfeit.

So somebody will get a counterfeit bill one of these days when he/she buys something with me.

If the serial had been an existing one I never would have known.

Klazu · Post by **Klazu** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 7:36 pm

hoppa wrote:So somebody will get a counterfeit bill one of these days when he/she buys something with me.

Are you saying you're going to use it somewhere (circle the accident) although you know it's counterfeit? DON'T! It's illegal and not very nice to do. It's only 5€ so things could have been much worse with a larger note. So take it to the police or destroy it yourself. Don't use it.

hoppa · Post by **hoppa** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:02 am

I allready got a pm from someone who wants to buy it, so no worry, it won't get back into circulation.

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