In the first four months, more than $1 million in fake new $20s were accepted by businesses and later detected. That's more than five times the $192,000 passed and caught in the same period after the 1998 redesign, says the Secret Service, the agency in charge of anti-counterfeiting efforts.

Because more money is being caught, even after being originally accepted, indications are that the new $20 is harder to fake because counterfeits are easier to spot — the goal in redesigning it.

"It's definitely a good thing," says Dennis Forgue, head of the agen-

cy's currency department. "If people use (the security features) properly, they're easy to detect."

Police detectives around the country said an early rush of fake $20s being spotted at stores and banks, starting right after the bills were introduced in October, seems to have died down. That suggests counterfeiters may be frustrated.

"It's almost come to a dead stop here," said Cpl. Kelley Cradduck, a police spokesman in Rogers, Ark. Eight people were arrested in Rogers in January in a counterfeit case that included more than $1,000 of fake new $20s that businesses accepted since October.

The new $20s have shades of green, peach and blue along with security features like a watermark, color-shifting ink and a special thread. That hasn't deterred everyone:

• In Idaho, police confiscated $1,600 in fake new $20s from a Boise home last month.

• A 23-year-old college student is set to go on trial in Xenia, Ohio, in April after he was caught allegedly trying to buy money orders with counterfeit $20s. About $1,000 in fake money he created had entered the system, police say.

• A 14-year-old and a 16-year-old in Mount Vernon, N.Y., were arrested in December after one tried to buy food at the cafeteria with a fake $20 and the other was caught giving a fake bill to a friend.