Fake US Currency

This is a fake. I've been in this business for over 20 years, and I've seen fake banknotes and securities all during that time.

All around the world, including within the US, people have been taken in by fake dollar notes, using them to try to do shopping at Walmart or open a bank account. Usually, these notes are denominated in $1 million or $1 billion and are assembled from parts of different real banknotes, including portraits, borders, and seals. For some reason, the notes are usually labeled as series 1928 and have the signature of Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau.

These items are considered fakes and not counterfeits because the notes are representing something that never existed. (A counterfeit is trying to copy a real item.)

Remember, the US never printed a banknote higher than $100K, and the highest denomination note that entered circulation was $10K. Scammers pushing these notes sometimes come up with complex, cryptic stories about secret movements of gold in the past. Otherwise, the notes are made to fool the unsuspecting and sold to them at a vast discount. This is the same case for fake US Treasury securities. Many of these scams originate in southeast Asia.