Do Federal Reserve Notes or Dollar Bills have tracking devices inside the paper?

Answer 1

That's an urban legend spread on the internet by conspiracy theorists, but it has no basis in fact. In any case the cost of a tracking strip would be prohibitive in a $1 bill*.

The story probably came up when the Bureau of Engraving and Printing started putting fluorescent anti-counterfeiting strips in $5 and higher bills. The strips are made of a special plastic that glows in color when exposed to a UV light. Each denomination glows a different color so that it's harder for a crook to bleach a low-value bill and overprint it with a fake higher-denomination design.

(*) ... and to clear up any confusion, ALL US $1 bills printed since 1963 are Federal Reserve Notes, as are all other denominations since 1976.

There is some type of feature as part of the new bills, whether it is a chip or magnetic strip or other security feature, hidden in part of the blue ribbon near the top and bottom of the blue ribbon. You can prove this very easily by stacking 20-30 new bills on top of each other. Near the top and bottom of the blue ribbon you will notice a distinct "bump" in the stack. There is obviously something that is there that is a little thicker than the ribbon or the bills.