You Need a Black Light for Christmas

I used to attend a few parties where they turned on black lights, played Pink Floyd LPs and did stuff I don’t remember or the statute of limitations has run even if I did.

Back then I would have been horrified to know that I might ever set foot within 50 feet of any chamber of commerce meeting. I really don’t think I would have believed that I’d go to one where a police officer showed up with his own black light.

Now, it seems, anything is possible. Even dogs and cats may be sleeping together for all I know because this week Officer John Ulrich actually brought his own black light to a Tarpon Springs Chamber of Commerce lunch-and-learn.

He brought some baggies and bills, too, but don’t let that blow your mind because it’s not what you might think. The bills were recently recovered counterfeits and Officer Ulrich was using them and his black light to illustrate how merchants can thwart the holiday hatch of credit-card fraudsters, counterfeiters and shoplifters.

Ulrich is a state-certified crime prevention specialist for the Tarpon Springs Police Department and someone you should know, especially if you operate a retail business that gets extra busy this time of year. In 30 minutes I learned more from him about retail theft than I’ve learned in the last several years combined.

For example, counterfeiters in particular don’t strike at random. They enter potential target stores and make careful observations before deciding which ones to victimize. This is good news, in a way, because merchants can protect themselves by adopting and practicing good habits. That’s where black lights enter the picture.

Did you know that American currency does not react under black light? Regular paper glows blue. Any bill that glows blue under black light is fake by definition. That’s one reason why Ulrich urges you to put a black light next to every register and to make a habit of shining it on every bill that crosses the counter.

Of course, counterfeiters know about black lights, too, which is why many of them resort to another tactic that involves bleaching five-dollar bills to make blanks for counterfeits of larger bills. These are harder to detect, Ulrich said, because they’re on government paper. But it’s possible to see remnants of the original bill (i.e. Abraham’s Lincoln’s image), if you hold it up to any regular light.

“It’s just a good idea to get in the habit of doing that,” he said. “When (counterfeiters) see you holding every bill to a light and running it under a black light, they’re probably going to move to another store that seems less risky.”

Here’s another tip: our latest currency designs include vertical, colored stripes, which don’t bleach away. You can only see them under a black light. Each color represents a different denomination. Pink and orange represents $100. Yellow signifies $50. Green stands for $20. Red equals $10 and blue equals $5.

“All you have to remember is blue,” said Ulrich. “If you hold it under the light and see blue, and it’s not a five, it’s fake.”

Did you know that black light will betray fake credit cards, too? Ulrich held his own Capital One card under his black light to show us where a “C” is printed in otherwise invisible ink. Different credit-card companies use different symbols, he said, but they all use the same technique, although debit cards do not.

Ulrich also explained how organized shoplifters like to operate. He advises merchants to stay alert for customers who appear more interested in fellow customers and store workers than in merchandise. And keep an eye on groups of three or more who separate after they enter your store, especially groups of two men and one woman.

“Think about it,” he said. “How often can a woman get one man to go shopping with her much less two?”

You can reach Officer Ulrich at 727-937-8753 or by email at julrich@tspd.us.

David is a commercial insurance specialist. He can be reached at 727.916.7429 or by email at FLInsurancenetwork@gmail.com. Read more at his personal blog.