Faked 10$ note prefix CXT

News: Registration is free here at the CPMF!

I got in a bundle of used 10s a faked note with a strange prefix:  CXT2977863.  The golden maple leaves are present.   This note was well scanned (with a high resolution scanner) and printed by a very good quality inkjet printer (we can see the microscopic droplets of ink with a magnifiing glass). The microprints are almost readable. The paper glows slightly under UV light and is very limp.  Even the bluewish fluorescent inscription is there, but is somewhat blurred and strangely, is much more intense than on an authentic note. And to fool still more easily, there is an number "20" handwritten on the face of the note...

I dont believe that it's an amateur job.  I think that it's a professionnal job, who took the time necessary to put reasonnably good-looking maple leaves and fluorescent ink...

And I detected this note almost instantly by it's impossible serial number (and by it's font).  Otherwise, I'm not sure that I would found this note as quickly.  Here the scan of the serial number.

Why wouldn't a forger use a proper prefix for his counterfeit notes.  The strange prefix on this note makes it stick out like a sore thumb.

I was wondered too by this anomaly.  The faker has took a CBN printed note (according the position number on the front; #14, the BPN is invisible), cautiously erased the original serial number and put a completely out of range new prefix.  Maybe the faker put his initials, but there is not many names which begins by an "X".  More probably, he simply put some random letters whitout thinking about the logical of the order found in prefixes...

I would add that the note is about 4 mm narrower than an authentic one.  The tint is somewhat more pale than on an original, but you see sometimes an authentic note well battered and machine-washed a couple of times which have a paler tint than normal...

Maybe the faker put his initials, but there is not many names which begins by an "X".

Xavier

Why wouldn't a forger use a proper prefix for his counterfeit notes.  The strange prefix on this note makes it stick out like a sore thumb.

I've always thought the same thing. They do such an excellent job at detail, and yet they screw it up by changing the prefix.
Unless of course, this is a "X" test note...(just kidding).

The font is an easy give away as well.

This also struck me too when I first saw it...it is different.

Eureka!  

It's a test note emitted by the faker

The font is common among $10 fakes.  I've seen it several times on a few bogus $10s.  The serial numbers and prefixes were different.

I've always thought the same thing. They do such an excellent job at detail, and yet they screw it up by changing the prefix.

High quality forgeries like these are almost certainly produced by professional criminal gangs, who produce them in large numbers.  They have to have some way of telling their own fakes from real ones, so they must "tag" the note in some way so that they can identify it right away, but most others can't.  The prefix is an obvious place to make such a "tag", because a wrong prefix is invisible to everybody except for BoC officials, and for us nerds.  

Anyone with a decent colour inkjet or laser printer, or even a colour copier can make a pretty convincing forgery.  The tricky part is the gold leaves, but obviously people have figured out how to imitate them.  I have some ideas, but discretion is advising me not to discuss them.  

The organized professional criminals are the ones who mass produce these things.  The rest are just created by the masses.  I'm sure that if any one of you were so inclined, you could go about making a decent fake $10.

The big problem is that very few people actually LOOK at their money.  They look for the basic colour (blue, purple, green, red, brown) and the denomination.  That's pretty much it.  I've asked a number of people and it's surprising how many have no clue what is on the backs of our money.  The most easily identifiable, the hockey player and the birds, went nearly unnoticed by many people.

If the people I've talked to are any indication, this economy is ripe for the picking by anyone who knows how to operate a printer or copier and exercise a little creativity and determination.

I fully agree with BWJM.  Most of people doesn't look at the notes more than to be sure that all the cash they get from the ATM, cashier or teller is there (having the good amount).

And since the notes are handled usually with the face up, the fakers have to make only the face good-looking enough to pass without being concerned too much by the back.  

My colleagues and friend were wondering about my habit to look at the serial numbers, but they were surprised when I told them that the prefixes have three letters and there is a logical in their order...Most of them were even not aware that the prefix is not always the same...The fakers have catched this and they possibly use it to pass their stock and identify by who the fake is made (the criminal gangs use possibly a sort of code to identify themselves).  The somewhat "crackpots" we are as prefix collectors represent too few people to be a big concern...

I just figured out which font the real $10 notes use as serial numbers. But I will not post it on here.

It is a font that you cannot download for free off the internet, it is not found in Microsoft Word. It costs almost $50 to download off the internet.

I'm a cashier at Woodbine Slots in Toronto and I deal with hundreds of thousands of Dollars every day. I can easily say that the ten dollar bills are the most counterfeited followed by the $20. In the last year I have seen about 20 counterfeit ten dollar bills while working and they all have funny prefixs except for one that was FEE. Some start with G, W, C, M, N, etc. Since I collect banknotes I am familiar with prefixes and numbering and for the amateur this is an easy way to tell if a bill is real or fake. However one thing I cannot understand is why the counterfeiters aren't using real prefixes. This does not make sense because it is so easy to tell if the bill is genuine or not.

Counterfeiters use false prefixes for one reason. The time they will spend in Jail if they are catch by the police. False prefixes can be easily before the court plead as a "false" faked bill. If they use real prefixes counterfeiters have made "real" false bills. It is harder for their defence before the court. They will get a bigger sentence that's why

My colleagues and friend were wondering about my habit to look at the serial numbers, but they were surprised when I told them that the prefixes have three letters and there is a logical in their order...Most of them were even not aware that the prefix is not always the same...

Some time ago, I spent a note marked with "Where's Willy" at Future Shop.  When the cashier saw it and asked about it, I told her it was a bill tracking site where you enter the serial # of the bill and your postal code.

She replied, "Serial number?  What serial number?"

Maybe I should have tried paying with Monopoly money.  

The other reason for using an oddball prefix is they would be able to spot their notes in the real ones easier. Also when they spend a fake they usually mix it in with one or more real notes, the fakes are kept seperate incase they have to ditch them quickly and they don't want to mistakenly drop the real notes in the garbage.

Kyle.