Fingerprint detection on counterfeit US banknotes: The importance of preliminary paper examination

Myriam Azouri; Dorit Cohen; Kimmo Himberg; Pia Qvintus-Leino; Terhi Saari; Joseph Almog

doi:10.1520/JFS2003424

Fingerprint detection on counterfeit US banknotes: The importance of preliminary paper examination

Myriam Azouri, Dorit Cohen, Kimmo Himberg, Pia Qvintus-Leino, Terhi Saari, Joseph Almog

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Two seizures of counterfeit 100 US$ bills related to the same indicative number were submitted for processing of latent fingerprints. On one group of notes, identifiable fingerprints could be detected by the routine application of amino acid reagents. In the second case, this technique gave no results, even on deliberately deposited prints. Fingerprints could be revealed, however, by cyanoacrylate fuming followed by magnetic powder. Comprehensive paper analysis showed that banknotes from both seizures differed remarkably by chemical composition as well as paper macroscopic properties. The difference in surface free energy (related to surface tension) of the banknotes in the two groups seemed to be the major factor responsible for the great variance in fingerprint detectability.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Forensic Sciences
Volume	49
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1520/JFS2003424
Publication status	Published - 2004
MoE publication type	Not Eligible

Access to Document

10.1520/JFS2003424

Cite this

@article{4d30abe079e04bfaa63ac89b1ed27480,

title = "Fingerprint detection on counterfeit US banknotes: The importance of preliminary paper examination",

abstract = "Two seizures of counterfeit 100 US$ bills related to the same indicative number were submitted for processing of latent fingerprints. On one group of notes, identifiable fingerprints could be detected by the routine application of amino acid reagents. In the second case, this technique gave no results, even on deliberately deposited prints. Fingerprints could be revealed, however, by cyanoacrylate fuming followed by magnetic powder. Comprehensive paper analysis showed that banknotes from both seizures differed remarkably by chemical composition as well as paper macroscopic properties. The difference in surface free energy (related to surface tension) of the banknotes in the two groups seemed to be the major factor responsible for the great variance in fingerprint detectability.",

author = "Myriam Azouri and Dorit Cohen and Kimmo Himberg and Pia Qvintus-Leino and Terhi Saari and Joseph Almog",

year = "2004",

doi = "10.1520/JFS2003424",

language = "English",

volume = "49",

journal = "Journal of Forensic Sciences",

issn = "0022-1198",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

number = "5",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Fingerprint detection on counterfeit US banknotes

T2 - The importance of preliminary paper examination

AU - Azouri, Myriam

AU - Cohen, Dorit

AU - Himberg, Kimmo

AU - Qvintus-Leino, Pia

AU - Saari, Terhi

AU - Almog, Joseph

PY - 2004

Y1 - 2004

N2 - Two seizures of counterfeit 100 US$ bills related to the same indicative number were submitted for processing of latent fingerprints. On one group of notes, identifiable fingerprints could be detected by the routine application of amino acid reagents. In the second case, this technique gave no results, even on deliberately deposited prints. Fingerprints could be revealed, however, by cyanoacrylate fuming followed by magnetic powder. Comprehensive paper analysis showed that banknotes from both seizures differed remarkably by chemical composition as well as paper macroscopic properties. The difference in surface free energy (related to surface tension) of the banknotes in the two groups seemed to be the major factor responsible for the great variance in fingerprint detectability.

AB - Two seizures of counterfeit 100 US$ bills related to the same indicative number were submitted for processing of latent fingerprints. On one group of notes, identifiable fingerprints could be detected by the routine application of amino acid reagents. In the second case, this technique gave no results, even on deliberately deposited prints. Fingerprints could be revealed, however, by cyanoacrylate fuming followed by magnetic powder. Comprehensive paper analysis showed that banknotes from both seizures differed remarkably by chemical composition as well as paper macroscopic properties. The difference in surface free energy (related to surface tension) of the banknotes in the two groups seemed to be the major factor responsible for the great variance in fingerprint detectability.

U2 - 10.1520/JFS2003424

DO - 10.1520/JFS2003424

M3 - Article

SN - 0022-1198

VL - 49

JO - Journal of Forensic Sciences

JF - Journal of Forensic Sciences

IS - 5

ER -