Currency Foiling the Fakers

| With the advent of sophisticated color copiers, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is nervous about high-tech counterfeiting. Last year alone, officials seized $66 million in bogus money. To foil would-be counterfeiters, the bureau is gearing up to print new bills, the first major change in U.S. paper currency since 1929.

The modified money will contain a polyester filament imprinted with minuscule lettering and running from the top of the bill to the bottom. The thread on a $100 bill, for example, will bear the lettering USA 100. Visible only if held up to direct light, the thread cannot be duplicated by copiers, which use reflected light. The new currency will also contain microengravings around the portrait. First to be circulated will be the $100 denomination, which should appear by late summer. The bureau is starting with big bills, says spokesman Ira Polikoff, "because those are the most susceptible to counterfeiting." Next on the drawing board: $50 and $20 bills.