In regards to defacement, there is a specific law.
It states: "[W]hoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both."
Regarding using money to advertise a business, the law states: "[W]hoever . . . writes, prints, or otherwise impresses upon . . . any [coin or currency] of the United States, any business or professional card, notice, or advertisem*nt, or any notice or advertisem*nt whatever, shall be fined under this title."
What happens if you deface money?
If you are caught defacing US bills or coins, you can be at risk of jailtime and/or a fine.
US dollar notes are legal tender, even if someone writes on it or stamps a message on it. It's good, as long as you don't cut off too much of it, or tear it in pieces. Neither action is a crime... you can either destroy or deface US currency, but if it's whole and recognizable, it's good.
US dollar notes are legal tender, even if someone writes on it or stamps a message on it. It's good, as long as you don't cut off too much of it, or tear it in pieces. Neither action is a crime... you can either destroy or deface US currency, but if it's whole and recognizable, it's good.
It is not illegal to write on paper currency, however, it is illegal to deface money. There are three things you CANNOT do to money: Change the denomination, for example, add zeros to make the value larger. Burn, shred or destroy money.
Whoever makes, issues, circulates, or pays out any note, check, memorandum, token, or other obligation for a less sum than $1, intended to circulate as money or to be received or used in lieu of lawful money of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
Many people assume that it's illegal to stamp or write on paper currency at all, but that's not the case. There's a provision in the law that states it's only illegal to deface currency “with the intent to render the bill unfit to be reissued.” Because we want these bills to stay in circulation, it's legal.
Under section 333 of the U.S. Criminal Code, “whoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System, ...
With that, you could conclude that yes it is, in fact, illegal to "mutilate, cut, deface, disfigure, or perforate, or unite or cement together" any bank bill, draft, note or evidence of debt by a national or federal entity.
18 U.S.C.331 makes it illegal to “alter, deface, mutilate, impair, diminish, falsify, scale, or lighten” any coin minted in the U.S. or any foreign coin being used as currency in the U.S.
Under regulations issued by the Department of the Treasury, mutilated United States currency may be exchanged at face value if: More than 50% of a note identifiable as United States currency is present.
Many stores and merchants will not take torn or drawn-on bills, and even vending machines struggle to take heavily wrinkled ones. The good news is that even if a bill is torn in half, you can tape them together and exchange them at a Federal Reserve bank for fresh notes, as long as the serial numbers match.
Often times, even financial institutions won't accept cash if it's too damaged. This is because the Federal Reserve does not accept deposits of mutilated money from banks and credit unions.
Use lowercase for denominations: dollar, cent, euro. Do not hyphenate numerals and denominations. Cents: For amounts less than a dollar, spell out cents. Exceptions: Use the dollar sign with numerals in all cases except casual references of amounts without a numeral: about a hundred dollars.
Section 331 of Title 18 of the United States code provides criminal penalties for anyone who fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the Mints of the United States.
18 USC 333 prescribes criminal penalties against anyone who "mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve Bank, or the Federal Reserve ...
Under Title 18, Section 471 of the United States Code, it's illegal to reproduce U.S. paper currency in any way, shape or form without permission from the federal government. This includes scanning money and printing it from a regular old inkjet printer.
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