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All businesses should do their part to stop the flow of counterfeit money in the local area, and money counters can help. With sophisticated detection technology, these machines can easily identify a fake bill in a variety of ways. Two examples are using fluorescence and infrared light to detect paper quality, and UV light to determine authenticity. At the same time, it's not only the responsibility of stores to ensure consumers can trust the bills they're using. National governments through their central banks must regularly update their bills to ensure they're a step ahead of criminals seeking to copy money. More importantly, there's a need to incorporate security features that ensures an increased difficulty when it comes to making fake cash.

With sophisticated security features and money counters, fake bills have minimal impact

There is good reason for governments to concern themselves with counterfeit money. According to the most recent data, the Secret Service removed $88.1 million in fake bills from circulation in 2013, up 9 percent from the previous year. However, that's only the money it could detect. Given the more than $1 trillion in circulation at any given time, it's very easy for some bills to slip through the cracks.

The situation is similar in other countries with strong currencies as well. This problem necessitates creating bills, especially high-value ones such as the $100 or 500-euro, with security measures. For its part, the European Central Bank, responsible for the euro, added features to all its bills such as raised ink on the edges of the side, a holographic strip on the right side of the front, and a magnetic stripe embedded in the center of the bill to address the counterfeiting issue. The Federal Reserve, on the other hand, focuses first on improving the security of high-value bills such as the $100 and $50. The most recent iteration of the $100 bill added a 3-D blue ribbon to the paper, as well as a color-changing number 100 on the bottom right corner. These methods make it incredibly difficult to counterfeit.

However, such methods don't make it impossible to forge a bill. While the governments do their parts to print more secure notes, businesses should use whatever methods necessary to counteract them, such as a money counter. These machines regularly update their technology and software to tell the difference between new and fake new bills. These combined efforts will help citizens maintain their trust in the currency.