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X-CalBR8 said:
Max said: "It is still very difficult, as far as I know, to make a counterfeit $20 old style bill that could get past a person who knows what to look for who is examining a bill specifically to determine its authenticity."
Yeah, but 90% of the time, aren't we talking about some teenager working in a fast food place or at Wal-Mart, or some other major chain, instead of some great money expert?
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Exactly, hence the new style bills. It should be harder to get a fake new bill past a distracted supermarket cashier than it would be for a fake old bill. I'd say that nearly half the times I have tried to pay with a supermarket with a $50 or $100 bill (not that often), they have pulled out the test marker, held it up to the light, etc.
Passing old counterfeit bills won't ever become a big problem because as soon as somebody starts noticing a new epidemic of counterfeit 15yr old bills, everybody will be on notice to treat old style bills with extra suspicion. Since the number of legitimate old style bills will go down over time, there will be less "needle in a haystack" problem of finding the fake bills.
If it really becomes a problem, some places might refuse to accept old style bills. This is similar, I guess, to the way New York City Subway "token" booths don't take bills larger than $20. But, you will always be able to take your authentic old bills to the bank.