Broken Secrets

Credit Cards Reveal Hidden Symbols Under Black Lights

August 12, 2011 at 2:00 am Chad Upton 4 comments

By Chad Upton | Editor

Many people know that paper money has markings that illuminate under a black light. These markings make it more difficult to counterfeit and thus easier to spot counterfeit money. Also, regular paper glows wildly under a black light, while currency paper does not, another dead giveaway. The same also applies to credit cards.

For this demonstration, I rounded up one card from each of the major issuers and tore my basement apart looking for my standard issue college black light. I eventually found it, but only after creating a small pile of retro items for this year’s halloween costume.

The black light’s strong purple glow catalyzed the American Express card to reveal “AMEX” spelled across the card, with a picture of a globe between “AM” and “EX.”

MasterCard was hiding “MC” on theirs:

The Visa card revealed the V logo.

Broken Secrets | Facebook | Twitter | Email | Kindle

Entry filed under: Demystified, Money. Tags: american express, amex, black light, cc, credit card, hidden, mastercard, mc, secret, visa.