A counterfeit is an imitation that is made usually with the intent to deceptively represent
its content or origins. Some individuals know how to make counterfeit
money. The word counterfeit most frequently describes forged currency or documents, but can also
describe clothing, software, pharmaceuticals, watches, or any
other manufactured item, especially when this results in patent
infringement or trademark infringement. How to make counterfeit money is what intrigues many individuals. This site
can shed some light on it, while strongly discouraging the mixed-up
practice. We must remember, there are detector machines
out there that will check for detection of fake coins and dollars.
Counterfeiting covers a wide range of consumer
items, from outright fakes in the sense that they are
non-functional look-alikes (e.g. prescription drugs, computer
flash drives), functional but inferior items (Memory Sticks,
blank videotapes) to fully functional items illegally manufactured
without paying copyright fees (CDs, DVDs, computer software).
In the latter case, there is often
little or no attempt at disguising its origin as the end user
will be aware that the counterfeit product will work at least as well (and sometimes better than) the original.
The alternative term "bootleg" is more often used
for this type of counterfeiting, where the user is fully aware of its illegal status.
This page has 10,490 words. To get to it, just type 33ekaf
in a searchbox ("fake33" backwards). Check source
ARE THESE GOOD? headline image promotional text call to action
Counterfeitmoney has
been around for as long as genuine money has. Before
there was a national currency, each bank printed their
own bills. There were over 7,000 varieties of real bills
and 4,000 varieties of counterfeitbills.
In 1863 a national currency was designed and implemented
but counterfeitmoney was still extremely easy
to make. In 1865, the Secret Service began investigating
suspected counterfeiters.
The Secret Service seized
$209 million in counterfeit money
in 1994. They believe that 90% of all counterfeit money
is confiscated before it reaches circulation.
New designs for security on counterfeit money
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is in charge of designing
new ways to deter counterfeiting. They can often find the people
who know how to make counterfeit money. In 1996, the $100 bill
was redone and in 1997 the $50 bill was redone to include
the latest security features.
1) One of these features is the picture on the 50
dollar bill. Each President is on only one 50 dollar
bill and the face is more lifelike than on a fakebill.
2) There are fine lines printed behind the president and
behind the building on the other side. These lines are smooth
and unbroken.
3) There is also a polymer thread woven in the fifty dollar bill.
The thread in the $100 bill reads "USA 100" and the $50 bill
reads "USA 50". The
thread can't be reproduced with copiers or printers but is visible
when the bill is held up to a light or appears yellow
when in ultraviolet light. Genuine bills also have red
and blue threads embedded in the paper. On counterfeitbills the
lines look like they are printed on the paper but on genuine
bill the lines appear to be in the paper.
4) There is a watermark or "shadow" to the right
of the face on the 50 dollarbill. It isn't visible unless the 50 dollar bill is
held up to the light.
5) Color shifting ink
is used for the number in the lower right hand corner on the
front of the 50 dollar bill. The ink appears green until
the 50 dollar bill is held at an angle, and then the
ink looks black. The ink is also "never dry" ink,
which means that it can be rubbed off. Be careful, the ink on
fake50 dollar bills can also be rubbed off at
times.
6) On the $50 bill the number 50 is printed in large
print to make it easier to see.
7) On the $100 bill micro printed
words are written around the portrait. To the naked eye it looks
like a black line but under a microscope the words "The
United States of America" can be read. On the $50 bill,
"50" is written around the portrait and "United States
of America" is printed
in Grant's collar.
8) Genuine 50 dollar bills have the Federal Reserve
and Treasury seals printed on them. The saw-tooth points on
the seal are clear, distinct, and sharp. The seals on counterfeit50 dollar bills
may have uneven, blunt, or broken points.
9) Along with the seals on each 50 dollar bill there
is a serial number printed in the same color ink as the seal and the
numbers and letters are evenly spaced.
The picture at the top of the page is Alexander Hamilton
who is found on the front of the $10 bill. The US Treasury
building is on the back of the bill.
Counterfeiting, manufacturing
spurious coins, paper money, or evidences of governmental
obligation in the semblance of the true. There must be sufficient
resemblance to the genuine article to deceive a person using
ordinary caution. The offense may be regarded as a special variety
of forgery. The crime affects property but was historically
considered to be an interference with the administration of
government. Regardless, there
are detector machines out there that will check for detection
of fake coins and dollars.
Hence, under an early English statute (1350), counterfeiting the king's seal
or his gold and silver coinage was a grave crime
against the state amounting to high treason and was punishable
by death. The statute left unchanged the common-law misdemeanors
of counterfeiting copper coinage and passing counterfeit foreign currency.
Other early statutes were directed against debasing the coinage by clipping or
filing off the edges to sell the metal.
By the 19th cent. Counterfeiting was considered a felony rather than a
form of treason. Article 1, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution
authorizes Congress to “provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States.” Under that power,
statutes have been enacted making criminal the counterfeiting of the currency
and bonds of the United States, of the evidences of indebtedness of the
Federal Reserve System, of postage stamps, and of foreign money
used for exchange.
Under its powers to define and punish offenses of international
law and its powers to control interstate and foreign commerce,
Congress has passed legislation
against the counterfeiting
of foreign money and securities within the United
States. Nearly every state now has statutes
against counterfeiting. Since its establishment
in 1865 the U.S. Secret Service has been the primary agency
in the combating of counterfeiters in the United States. To commit the crime of counterfeiting one does not necessarily
have to make a whole coin or dollar bill. It may be accomplished by plating
coins, by raising the
amount of a dollar bill, or by any other alteration calculated
to deceive the recipients.
To retain counterfeit money or government
obligations knowingly is also a criminal offense, regardless
of how possession was acquired. The knowing utterance (passing)
of counterfeit currency or securities
is also criminal. For the further protection of the currency
and of postage stamps, statutes forbid making certain types
of photographs (e.g., in color) where there would be danger
of deception. All should remember, there are detector machines out there
that check for detection of fake coins and dollars.
In the 1990s, counterfeiters began to create high-quality color
prints of paper currency using computer scanning and
imaging. The U.S. government responded by redesigning
all denominations of bills, starting in 1996; the new
dollar bills include microscopic printing and watermarks.
The allure of counterfeiting is
obvious. If you could do it without getting caught, you would
be able to print your own money and buy whatever you
want with it. Counterfeiting is
the ultimate technology for people who want to get something
for nothing, for those who really want to know how to make counterfeit
money.
In the not-too-distant past,
counterfeiting
was a difficult and expensive endeavor. It required large printing
presses and the ability to cut intricate designs by hand into
metal plates. Today it is much easier to create counterfeit dollar
bills. As thousands of teenagers discover every year, you can
create fake money with a PC, a scanner and a color inkjet printer
in about 10 minutes.
In this article, we will look
at the technology of counterfeiting.
You will learn about the techniques that you might use if you
wanted to create your own counterfeit dollar
bills. We'll also discuss the punishment that you will receive
when you get caught trying out these techniques. In the process,
you will learn how to detect "funny money" yourself
and also discover whether the U.S. money
supply is vulnerable to collapse from a sea of counterfeit dollar
bills.
History
This building was
used to mint counterfeit American nickels in the late 19th and/or early 20th centuries. The picture
was taken in 1911 and featured in a Chicago newspaper.
Counterfeitingmoney is probably as old as money itself.
Before the introduction of paper money, the two main
ways of doing it were to mix base metals in what was supposed
to be pure gold or silver, or to "shave"
the edges of a coin so that it weighed less than it was supposed
to. A fourrée is an ancient type of counterfeitcoin, in which a base metal core has been plated with a precious metal to look like
its solid metal counter part.
Emperor and Kings
In 1162, Emperor Gaozong of Song
had promulgated a decree to punish the counterfeiter of Huizi (currency) to death and to reward the informant.
Kings often dealt very harshly
with the perpetrators and others who really did know how to
make counterfeit money. The English couple Thomas Rogers and
Anne Rogers were convicted on 15 October 1690 for
"Clipping 40 pieces of Silver" (in other words, clipping
the edges off silver coins).
Thomas Rogers was hanged, drawn and quartered and Anne Rogers
was burnt alive. The gruesome forms of punishment were due to
the two's acts being construed as "treason", rather
than simple crime.
Far more fortunate was an earlier
practitioner of the same art, active in the time of the Emperor
Justinian, who got the nickname Alexander the Barber. Rather
than being executed, when he was caught the Emperor decided
to employ his financial talents in the government's own service.
Revolutionary War
Modern counterfeiting begins with Paper money. Nations have used counterfeiting as a means of warfare. The idea is to overflow the enemy's economy
with fake bank notes, so that the real value of the money
plummets. Great Britain did this during the Revolutionary War
to reduce the value of the Continental Dollar. Although
this tactic was also employed by the United States during the
American Civil War, the fake Confederate currency
it produced was of superior quality to the real thing.
Counterfeit Continental Bill
Civil War
Counterfeiting of
money is one of the oldest crimes in history. It was
a serious problem during the 19th century when banks issued
their own currency. At the time of the Civil War, it
was estimated that one-third of all currency in circulation
was counterfeit.
At that time, there were
approximately 1,600 state banks designing and printing their
own notes. Each note carried a different design, making it difficult to distinguish
the 4,000 varieties of counterfeits from
the 7,000 varieties of genuine notes.
It was anticipated that the adoption of a national
currency in 1863 would solve the counterfeiting
problem. However, the national currency was soon counterfeited
so extensively it became necessary for the Government to take
enforcement measures. On July
5, 1865, the UnitedStates
Secret Service was established to suppress counterfeiting.
Now there are detector machines out there that will check for detection
of fake coins
and dollars.
At least one case is recorded in which a responsible government
legalized existing counterfeit issues—an action taken By the CONFEDERATE
STATES OF AMERICA during the Civil War. In an effort to spare
the possibly innocent individual detected with a counterfeit note, the Confederate
government legalized the acceptance of bogus notes late in the
war. Indeed, the government had little choice. Because of the
poor quality and multiplicity of issues of reputable Confederate
notes, and also because of the masses of counterfeits in circulation—many
originating in the North—hardly any one could tell the difference between real and fakemoney. Frequently the counterfeit notes were of
better quality.
WWI
In 1926, a high-profile counterfeit scandal became known in Hungary,
when several people were arrested in the Netherlands while attempting
to procure 10 million francs worth of fake French 1000-franc
bills, which had been produced in Hungary; after 3 years,
the state-sponsored industrial scale counterfeit operation had finally collapsed.
The League of Nations' investigation
found Hungary's motives were to avenge its post-WWI territorial
losses (blamed on Georges Clemenceau) and to use profits from
the counterfeiting business to boost a militarist, border-revisionist ideology. Germany and Austria
had an active role in the conspiracy, which required special
machinery. The quality of fakebills was still
substandard however, due to France's use of exotic raw paper
material imported from its colonies.
WWII
During World War II, the Nazis attempted
to do a similar thing to the Allies with Operation Bernhard.
The Nazis took Jewish artists in the Sachsenhausen concentration
camp and forced them to forge British pounds and American dollars. The quality of the counterfeiting was very good, and it was almost impossible to
distinguish between the real and fakedollar bills. The Germans could
not put their plan into action, and were forced to dump the
counterfeitbills into a lake, which were not recovered
until the 1950s.
1980’s
!In the 1980s counterfeiting in the Republic of Ireland twice resulted
in sudden changes in official documents: in November 1984 the
£1 postage stamp, also used on savings cards for paying television
licenses and telephone bills, was invalidated and replaced
by another design at a few days' notice, because of widespread
counterfeiting. Later, the £20 Central Bank of Ireland
Series B banknote was rapidly replaced because of what the Finance
Minister described as "the
involuntary privatization of banknote printing".
Counterfeit Euro
1990’s
In the 1990s, the portrait
of Chairman Mao Zedong was placed on the banknotes of the People's
Republic of China to
combat counterfeiting,
as he was recognized well than the generic designs on the renminbi
notes.
Fake Chinese Money
Real Chinese Money
North Korea
Today the finest counterfeit banknotes are claimed to be U.S.
dollar bills produced in North Korea, which are used
to finance the North Korean government, among other uses. The
fake North Korean copies are called Super dollars because of their high quality.
Bulgaria and Colombia are also significant sources of counterfeitcurrency.
There has been a rapid growth in
the counterfeiting of Euro banknotes and coins since the launch
of the currency in 2002. More and more people know how
to make counterfeit money. In 2003, 551,287 fake Euro
notes and 26,191 bogus Euro coins were removed from EU circulation. In 2004, French police seized fake
10 Euro and 20 Euro notes worth a total of around €1.8 million
from two laboratories and estimated that 145,000 notes had already
entered circulation.
The spread of counterfeit goods has become global in recent years. It is currently
estimated that Counterfeit Goods consists of 5 to 7% of World Trade, ranging in losses between 500 Billion
and 600 Billion U.S. Dollars.
In the early years of the 21st century,
the United States Secret Service has noted a substantial reduction
in the quantity of forged U.S. currency, as counterfeiters turn their attention towards the Euro.
When you find your suitable answer for your questions, or
benefit from the page, I sincerely hope that you can kindly put a backlink to
our page in order to spead the word and the site to more people who seek for tips
to generate more benefits in life.
Your kind action for putting a backlink is a great motivation for us.
I am asking for your help to make this page (which
I last modified on
Tuesday May 15, 2007
) a success. If each of you who read this could forward the link to two others,
and they forward the link to two others, we will have over 1,000,000 readers
in only 20 iterations! Believe in the power of word-of-mouth and spread the
word...
° LARGEST U.S. CITIES: New York City,New York|Los Angeles,California
|Chicago,Illinois |HoustonTexas |Philadelphia,Pennsylvania |Phoenix,Arizona
|San Diego,California |San Antonio,Texas |Dallas,Texas |San Jose,California
|Detroit,Michigan |IndianapolisIndiana |Jacksonville,Florida |San Francisco,California
|Columbus,Ohio |Austin,Texas |Memphis,Tennessee |BaltimoreMaryland |Fort Worth,Texas
|Charlotte,North Carolina |El Paso,Texas |BostonMassachusetts |WashingtonDistrict
of Columbia |Milwaukee,Wisconsin |Seattle,Washington |Denver,Colorado |Louisville-Kentucky
|Nashville-Tennessee |Las Vegas,Nevada |Portland,Oregon |Oklahoma City Oklahoma
|Tucson,Arizona |Albuquerque,New Mexico |AtlantaGeorgia |Long Beach,California
|Fresno,California |Sacramento,California |New OrleansLouisiana |Cleveland,Ohio
|Kansas City,Missouri |Mesa,Arizona |Virginia Beach Virginia |Omaha,Nebraska
|Oakland,California |Miami,Florida |Tulsa,Oklahoma |HonoluluHawaii |Minneapolis,Minnesota
|Colorado Springs Colorado |Arlington,Texas |Wichita,Kansas |St. LouisMissouri
|Raleigh,North Carolina |Santa Ana,California |Anaheim,California |CincinnatiOhio
|Tampa,Florida |Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania |Toledo,Ohio |Aurora,Colorado |Bakersfield,California
|Riverside,California |Stockton,California |Corpus Christi Texas |Newark,New
Jersey |Buffalo,New York |St. Paul,Minnesota |Anchorage,Alaska |Lexington,Kentucky
|Plano,Texas |St. Petersburg,Florida |Jersey City,New Jersey |Glendale,Arizona
|Lincoln,Nebraska |Chandler,Arizona |Henderson,Nevada |Greensboro,North Carolina
|Norfolk,Virginia |Birmingham,Alabama |Scottsdale,Arizona |Fort Wayne,Indiana
|Baton RougeLouisiana |Madison,Wisconsin |Hialeah,Florida |Chesapeake,Virginia
|Garland,Texas |Orlando,Florida |Rochester,New York |Akron,Ohio |Chula Vista,California
|Fremont,California |Lubbock,Texas |Laredo,Texas |Modesto,California |Durham,North
Carolina |Reno,Nevada |Montgomery,Alabama |Glendale,California |ArlingtonVirginia,
|Shreveport,Louisiana |San Bernardino California |Spokane,Washington |Yonkers,New
York |Tacoma,Washington |Huntington Beach,California |Des Moines,Iowa |Grand
Rapids,Michigan |Richmond,Virginia |Winston-Salem,North Carolina |Irving,Texas
|Boise City,Idaho |Mobile,Alabama |Augusta-Georgia |Irvine,California |Columbus,Georgia
|Little Rock,Arkansas |Oxnard,California |Amarillo,Texas |Knoxville,Tennessee
|Newport News,Virginia |Moreno Valley,California |Salt Lake City,Utah |Jackson,Mississippi
|Providence,Rhode Island |North Las Vegas,Nevada |Gilbert,Arizona |Ontario,California
|Worcester,Massachusetts |Rancho Cucamonga,California |Santa Clarita,California
|Aurora,Illinois |Brownsville,Texas $|Fort Lauderdale,Florida |Huntsville,Alabama
|Oceanside,California |Garden Grove,California |Overland Park,Kansas |Fontana,California
|Tempe,Arizona |Dayton,Ohio |Tallahassee,Florida |Vancouver,Washington |Chattanooga,Tennessee
|Pomona,California |Santa Rosa,California |Rockford,Illinois $|Springfield,Massachusetts
|Pembroke Pines,Florida |Springfield,Missouri |Paterson,New Jersey |Corona,California
|Salem,Oregon |Salinas,California |Hollywood,Florida |Hampton,Virginia |Eugene,Oregon
|Grand Prairie,Texas |Kansas City,Kansas |Pasadena,Texas |Pasadena,California
|Torrance,California |Syracuse,New York$ |Naperville,Illinois |Lakewood,Colorado
|Hayward,California |Cape Coral,Florida |Sioux Falls,South Dakota |Bridgeport,Connecticut
|Peoria,Arizona |AlexandriaVirginia |Joliet,Illinois |Warren,Michigan |Orange,California
|Palmdale,California |Escondido,California |Lancaster,California |Fullerton,California
|Port St. Lucie,Florida |Fayetteville,North Carolina |Mesquite,Texas |Sunnyvale,California
|Coral Springs,Florida |Savannah,Georgia |Sterling Heights,Michigan |Fort Collins,Colorado
|Elizabeth,New Jersey |New Haven,Connecticut |Hartford,Connecticut |Thousand
Oaks,California |McAllen,Texas |Concord,California |Cedar Rapids,Iowa |El Monte,California
|Topeka,Kansas |Waco,Texas |Stamford,Connecticut $|West Valley CityUtah |Carrollton,Texas
|Simi Valley,California |Flint,Michigan |Vallejo,California |Bellevue,Washington
|Columbia,South Carolina |Evansville,Indiana |Springfield,Illinois |Lansing,Michigan
|ProvoUtah |Abilene,Texas |Inglewood,California |Ann Arbor,Michigan |Clarksville,Tennessee
|Peoria,Illinois |Elk Grove,California |Lafayette,Louisiana |Beaumont,Texas
|Olathe,Kansas |Independence,Missouri |Costa Mesa,California |Downey,California
|Manchester,New Hampshire |Clearwater,Florida |Visalia,California |West Covina,California
|Gainesville,Florida |Waterbury,Connecticut |Allentown,Pennsylvania |Charleston,South
Carolina |Miramar,Florida |Cary,North Carolina |Roseville,California |Norwalk,California
|Santa Clara,California |South Bend,Indiana |Thornton,Colorado |Lowell,Massachusetts
|Westminster,Colorado |Fairfield,California |Pompano Beach,Florida |Denton,Texas
|Burbank,California |San Buenaventura California |Arvada,Colorado |Pueblo,Colorado
|Athens,Georgia |Erie,Pennsylvania |Richmond,California |Norman,Oklahoma |Cambridge,Massachusetts
|Green Bay,Wisconsin |Berkeley,California |Antioch,California |Daly City,California
|Killeen,Texas |Portsmouth,Virginia| OTHER INFORMATION: By owner rent Buy Now.
equipment sale price cost dollars cents refund cash paypal Buy Now. mastercard
discover american express visa first second quality. $ closeout distressed discount
We broker, buy, sale price Buy Now. sell and trade industrial and civilian materials
and products. We help sell.General Supply, Freight Salvage Surplus, Closeouts,
Warehouse cleanouts. sale price Repossessions, Junk, Insurance Salvage, Buy
Now. Disposable Merchandise, Industrial Surplus, Medical $ Surplus, Storage
Rental Bins, Storage Trailers, used Equipment, Used Freight sale price Vans,
$ Building Materials, uy Now. Factory Seconds, Discontinued Merchandise, Garage
Clean Outs, Factory Clean Outs, Shipping Containers, Out of Business Sales,
merchandise. Buy Now sale $ price Merchandise Returns, Retail closeouts, storage
buildings, donations, Garage Cleanouts, Sale Leftovers, Used. Factory rejects,
Antiques, Collectibles, Distressed Merchandise, Insurance Claims, sale price
Insured Settlements, Refunds.
Medical Dislaimer
The information contained on this site is provided for your general
information only. Its author does not give medical advice or engage
in the practice of medicine. The author under no circumstances recommends
particular treatment for specific individuals and in all cases recommends
that you consult your physician or local treatment center before pursuing
any course of treatment
There are
10,00 words on this page.
Find this
page fast. Type in a searchbox
33ekaf. (that's "fake33" spelled
backwards)
° Why Are They So Important? Air
Compressorsheavy duty industrial air compressors, medical air compressors,
and portable dental air compressors of both types— electric air
compressors and gas powered air compressors.
Show me
° Breast
Cancer Facts and statistics about diet, advanced and inflammatory
breast cancer prevention, treatment, and symptoms -- support early detection!
Show me
° Party Tent City.com Party Tents, Awnings, Fire& Flame Retardant
Tarps Canopies Camping Canopy, Clear Window Tarpaulins, Wedding & Church
Revival Tents Show
me
Another form of counterfeiting is the production of documents by legitimate printers in response to fraudulent
instructions. An example of this is the Portuguese Bank Note Crisis of 1925,
when the British banknote printers Waterlow and Sons produced Banco de Portugal
notes equivalent in value to 0.88% of the Portuguese nominal Gross Domestic
Product, with identical serial numbers to existing banknotes, in response
to a fraud perpetrated by Alves dos Reis. Similarly, in 1929 the issue of
postage stamps celebrating the Millennium of Iceland's parliament, the Althing,
was compromised by the insertion of "1" on the print order, before
the authorized value of stamps to be produced
Russia
In Russia, authorities estimate
that 90% of products sold to people are counterfeit, while in China there are an estimated 3 to 5
million people working in the counterfeit industry.
Pakistan
In 2006, a Pakistani
government printing press in the city of Quetta was accused of churning out
large quantities of counterfeit Indian currency, The Times of India reported based on Central Bureau
of Intelligence investigation. The rupee notes are then smuggled into India
as 'part of Pakistan's agenda of destabilizing (the) Indian economy through
fakecurrency,' the daily said.
The notes are 'supplied
by the Pakistan government press (at Quetta) free of cost to Dubai-based counterfeiters who, in turn, smuggle it into
India using various means,' the report said. This money is allegedly
used to fund terrorist activities inside India. The recent blasts in Mumbai
were funded using fakecurrency printed in Pakistan. Anti-counterfeiting measures
Imagine there are
two forged UK pound coins. The left coin might show poor
surface clarity, irregular reeding and no side lettering. The right coin might demonstrate poor metal quality. Just an idea to clarify it.
Canada
Currencycounterfeiting has never been an overwhelming problem in Canada. But consumers, businesses,
and the Bank of Canada got quite a jolt in 2001 with the discovery of a sophisticated
counterfeiting ring operating near Windsor, Ont. These
counterfeiters turned out mounds of $100 bills of such high quality that
millions of dollars in funny money made its way into general circulation before the ring was broken up. Many businesses quickly decided to refuse all
big bills.
It may seem like most
stores still won't accept your $50 and $100 dollar bills. But the Bank
of Canada says large bills aren't being turned away as often as they
used to be. Its latest retail survey shows that 97 per cent of retail outlets
will accept large bills. That's up from 94 per cent in 2002.
Businesses may be
more willing to accept the larger notes because more now have portable counterfeitdetection systems in place at their cash registers. Also, fewer counterfeits are being passed. The RCMP says 402,303 counterfeit notes were passed
in 2005, down from 553,000 in 2004. The Bank of Canada says that trend lower
is continuing in 2006. (To put this in perspective, there are about 1.35 billion
notes in circulation.)
As more and more retailers
subject their higher denomination bills to closer scrutiny, the counterfeiters
have turned to the lower denominations. More than 85 per cent of the fake
bills passed in 2005 were 5s, 10s, and 20s. That's why you may have noticed
that some retailers now routinely check all bills. The better-quality counterfeits,
however, can still slip by some detection machines.
Financial institutions find
a lot of the fakes. But they report that counterfeit credit
cards are a much bigger problem for them than counterfeit currency.
In 2005, counterfeit cards
cost them $280 million — dwarfing the $9.3 million lost from phony money.
But the Canadian public
still thinks of counterfeiting as a big problem. A 2006 survey done for the Bank of Canada found that 35 per
cent of the people contacted believed they would receive a counterfeitbill in the next six months.
A 2004 survey found that 13 per cent of respondents said they had been offered
or had received a counterfeit note at some point in their lives. The
Bank of Canada says the chance of receiving a counterfeitbill is just 3/100ths of one
per cent — in other words, about one in every 3,350 dollar bills. But
even a few fakes can hurt confidence in the currency.
The Bank of Canada
credits its phased-in introduction of upgraded security features for part
of the drop in overall counterfeiting. Metallic holographic stripes, watermark portraits, color-shifting threads,
a see-through number, and enhanced fluorescence under ultraviolet lighting
are just some of the new features the central bank has added to try to foil
would-be forgers. But it's an ongoing battle as the currency printers
try to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated counterfeiters who take quick
advantage of every advance in copying, scanning and printing technology.
North Korea
The United States also is conducting a
strategic investigation of the trafficking and production of super
notes first discovered in 1989 and traced to North Korea. Certain
offices in that country know how to make counterfeit money. U.S.
law enforcement officials have determined that those highly deceptive
notes are produced and distributed with the full consent and control
of the North Korean government.
CounterfeitUSmoney isn't
just printed in the US. Iran and Syria are also believed
to be printing the USbill.
Abraham Lincoln is found on the front of the $5 bill.
On the back of the bill is the Lincoln Memorial.
Colombia
"In this age of high-tech
computers, digital scanners and commercial-quality film processors, Colombia's counterfeiters
still use old-fashioned mechanical methods to churn out their notes. Both
Fabio and his drug-trafficking colleague say they know of no one producing
counterfeitmoney
in Colombia with
technology more modern than offset machines.
The process is this: a counterfeiter first
creates actual-size photographic negatives of a note's front and back, and
then cleans up each negative with a jeweler's precision. The images on the
negatives are burned onto a series of photosensitized aluminum plates, with
each plate showing different details from the bill. Then the plates
are run through the offset printing press, so that one set of details is layered
on top of another. No matter how high-quality the paper is, the finished product
will amount to nothing if the photographic negative is shoddy.
Smaller operations generally contract out the making
of the negatives and plates. Today, Fabio says, a contracted set of negatives can cost anywhere
from $750 to $2,000, depending on quality and quantity, and the plates
cost another $500 to $1,500. Only the larger operations that control production
as well as distribution have the money for the equipment to make
negatives. The better the equipment, of course, the better the result. “-
The New York Times
Counterfeiting is a serious national
crime that has the potential to harm or destroy a business of any size.
Thanks to today's "High Tech", advances with computers, copiers
and printers can produce counterfeitmoney that
looks quite good. Even with these advances, you can learn how to better
protect yourself and your business from the dangers of counterfeitmoney.
Peru
PeruCounterfeitMoney
Vietnam
CounterfeitVietnamMoney
For U.S. currency, anti-counterfeiting milestones are as follows:
1996
1996 $100 bill
gets a new design with a larger portrait
1997
1997 $50 bill copies
the design used above
1998
1998 $20 bill copies
the design used above
2000
2000 $10 bill and
$5 bill copies the design used above
2003
2003 $20 bill gets
a new design with no oval around Andrew Jackson's portrait and more colors
2004
2004 $50 bill copies the design used above
2006
2006 $10 bill copies
the design used above
The Treasury had made no plans to
redesign the $5 bill using colors, but recently reversed
its decision, after learning some counterfeiters were bleaching the ink off the
bills and printing them as $100 bills. It is not
known when the $100 bill will be redesigned in this format,
but the new $10 bill (the design of which was revealed
in late 2005) entered circulation in March 2, 2006. The $1 bill
and $2 bill are seen by most counterfeiters as having too low of a value to counterfeit, even by those who know how to make counterfeit money easily, and so they have
not been redesigned as frequently as higher denominations.
Anti-counterfeiting
Traditionally, anti-counterfeiting measures involved including fine detail with raised intaglio printing on dollar
bills which would allow non-experts to easily spot forgeries. On coins, milled
or reeded (marked with parallel grooves) edges are used to show that
none of the valuable metal has been scraped off. This detects the shaving
or clipping (paring off) of the rim of the coin. However, it does not detectsweating, or shaking coins in a bag and collecting the resulting
dust. Since this technique removes a smaller amount, it is primarily used
on the most valuable coins, such as gold. After all, there are detector
machines out there that will check for detection of fake coins and dollars.
In the late twentieth century advances
in computer and photocopy technology made it possible for people without sophisticated
training to easily copy currency. In response, national engraving bureaus
began to include new more sophisticated anti-counterfeiting systems such as holograms,
multi-colored dollar bills, embedded devices such as strips, micro
printing and inks whose colors changed depending on the angle of the
light, and the use of design features such as the "EURion constellation"
which disables modern photocopiers. Software programs such as Adobe
Photoshop have been modified by their manufacturers to obstruct manipulation
of scanned images of banknotes. There also exist patches to counteract these
measures.
How to Detect Counterfeit Money
Look at the money you receive. Compare
a suspect note with a genuine note of the
same denomination and series, paying attention to the quality of printing
and paper characteristics. Look for differences, not similarities.
° Why Are They So Important? Air
Compressorsheavy duty industrial air compressors, medical air compressors,
and portable dental air compressors of both types— electric air
compressors and gas powered air compressors.
Show me
° Breast
Cancer Facts and statistics about diet, advanced and inflammatory
breast cancer prevention, treatment, and symptoms -- support early detection!
Show me
° Party Tent City.com Party Tents, Awnings, Fire& Flame Retardant
Tarps Canopies Camping Canopy, Clear Window Tarpaulins, Wedding & Church
Revival Tents Show
me
The portrait of a genuine bill is rendered in sharp
and clear lines. The oval background contains sharp vertical and horizontal
lines, forming small white squares. On a counterfeitbill the
portrait's lines often appear running together, and the background's
crossing lines, forming squares, are often filled in.
The genuine portrait appears
lifelike and stands out distinctly from the background. The counterfeit portrait
is usually lifeless and flat. Details merge into the background, which is
often too dark or mottled.
Federal Reserve and Treasury Seals
On a genuine bill, the saw-tooth points
of the Federal Reserve and Treasury seals are clear, distinct,
and sharp. The counterfeit seals
may have uneven, blunt, or broken saw-tooth points. This is a
common mistake of those who try to make counterfeit money.
The large capital letter which appears inside the Federal Reserve Seal, and as a prefix letter for serial
numbers, represents a letter symbol for one of the twelve Federal Reserve
Districts. The seal's letter symbol and serial numbers prefix letter
must correspond; otherwise assume the bill is a counterfeit.
The Treasury Seal is green on Federal Reserve Notes and
red on US Notes. Become especially familiar with the color of the Treasury
Seal and Serial Numbers, as they are often printed off-colors on counterfeitdollar bills.
Make a special effort to note the seal's saw teeth points on suspected
dollar bills. On counterfeitdollar bills,
they appear uneven, blunt and the tips are broken off.
Border
The fine lines in the border of a genuine bill
are clear and unbroken. On the counterfeit, the
lines in the outer margin and scrollwork may be blurred and indistinct.
Blurred and Indistinct
Indistinct Lines Fake
Serial Numbers Genuine
serial numbers have a distinctive
style and are evenly spaced. The serial numbers are printed in the same ink
color as the Treasury Seal. On a counterfeit,
the serial numbers may differ in color or shade of ink from the Treasury seal.
The numbers may not be uniformly spaced or aligned.
The serial numbers appear in the upper left and lower right
portion of the bill and are green on the Federal Reserve Notes and
Red on the US Notes. All serial numbers have eight numerals.Make certain the serial numbers prefix letters and the Federal Reserve
letter correspond. If the serial numbers are printed in off colors or
appear ragged or uneven, assume the bill is counterfeit.
Paper Genuine
Currency paper has tiny red and blue fibers embedded
throughout. Often counterfeiters
try to simulate these fibers by printing tiny red and blue lines
on their paper. Even if they know how to make counterfeit money,
they can't be perfect. Close inspection reveals, however, that
on the counterfeit note
the lines are printed on the surface, not embedded in the paper.
It is illegal to reproduce the distinctive paper used in the manufacturing
of United Statescurrency.
One of the most important identifying features of genuine
currency is the paper. It contains tiny red and blue
fibers embedded on and between its main mass. Counterfeiters often attempt
to simulate these tiny fibers by imprinting red and blue lines
on their bogus dollar bills. If they know how to
make counterfeit money, they usually pay close attention to this.
On a genuine bill these fibers can be pulled off and or
out of the paper. You can try this by using the head of
a pin.
Check Letter (Quadrant Number)
The small check number letter appears in the upper
left and lower right corner. These letters indicate the position of
that note being printed on a full sheet. The
Quadrant Number appears in the upper left corner only, and should not
be confused with the Face Place Number. If the Check Letters
are missing, assume that the bill is counterfeit.
District Numbers (Federal Reserve Note)
There are 12 Federal Reserve Districts, and each district has a number and a letter symbol.
If the district number and the letter symbol in the seal do not correspond
presume the bill is a counterfeit. Become
Familiar with the following district numbers and letter symbols. You should know how to do this, even though there are detector
machines out there that will check for detection of fake coins and dollars.
1.Boston - A
2.New York - B
3.Philadelphia - C
4.Cleveland - D
5.Richmond - E
6.Atlanta - F
7.Chicago - G
8.St. Louis - H
9.Minneapolis - I
10.Kansas City - J
11.Dallas - K
12.San Francisco - L
Type of Note:
Federal Reserve Notes now being printed in $ 1, $2, $5,
$10, $20, $50, and $100 denominations represent the main US paper currency.
The $100.00 bill is now the highest denomination being printed.
Silver certificates in $1, $5, and $10 denominations are discontinued.
Security features:
The $5 bill
was the last in the current series of currency notes to get its security
upgrade. The new $5 note was released into general circulation on Nov. 15,
2006.
The enhanced security
features of the new $5 note build on earlier enhancements introduced in 2002.
The Bank of Canada web site has an interactive feature that allows users to
see how the new security features work in greater detail.
With the release
of the upgraded $5 note, all of the bills in the current Canadian Journey
series have received their security upgrades. Here's how the features look on some of the other notes:
Holographic stripe
1.When the bill is tilted, brightly colored numerals (100)
and maple leaves will "move" within the holographic stripe. There is a color-split
within each maple leaf.
Watermarked portrait
2.Watermarked portrait. Hold the note to a light and a small ghost-like image of the portrait appears to the left
of the large numeral (100).
Windowed Color-Shifting thread
3.Windowed color-shifting thread. Hold the note to the light and a continuous, solid line appears. From the back
of the note, the thread resembles a series of exposed metallic dashes that
shift from gold to green when the bill is tilted.
Color-shifting ink
·
Located in the bottom right corner on the face of the bill,
the number "20" is made of color-shifting
ink. A slight backward and forward shift of the bill changes
the number "20" from copper to green.
·
A faint and smaller version of Jackson's portrait
(as seen on the face of the bill) is "hidden" within the
paper itself. If you hold the bill up to a light, this watermark
is immediately evident from either side of the bill.
How did Nelson get around these
features?
See-through number
4.See-through number. Hold the note to the light and the irregular marks on the
front and back will form a perfectly aligned number 100.
http: //www .cbc.
ca/news/background/counterfeit/
Plastic Security strip
·
Embedded in the paper, a plastic security strip runs vertically up one side
of the note. If President Andrew Jackson is facing you, then the plastic strip
is on the left side. Upon close inspection of this security strip, you can
see the words "USA TWENTY" and a small flag repeated along the thread.
This should be visible on both sides of the bill.
Ways to protect yourself
UV Lights
Magnifying glass
There are several ways to protect you from taking any counterfeitmoney.
The cheapest is a magnifying glass. You will be able to see the words microscopically
written on the bill. Copiers and printers aren't able to pick up and
print such fine details.
Pen
There is now a "pen" on the market that can determine if a
bill is real or not based on the contents of the paper. Genuine money
is printed on paper made of cotton and linen. You use the pen to put
a mark on the bill. If a black mark is left then the bill is
a fake. If the bill is real, a yellow mark appears. The yellow
mark disappears after a couple of hours. The pens cost anywhere from
$4 to $10.
Machines
Another alternative is a machine that you run the dollar
bills through. If the bill is fake an alarm is sounded and
a light flashes. These machines are fairly expensive, ranging
anywhere from $80 to thousands of dollars. Here is a good
example of detector machines that will check for detection of
fake coins and dollars.
Credit Card Authenticator
Handling Counterfeit money
If someone hands you a counterfeitbill there are a few steps that
you should take:
1.Do not give the
bill back to the person who gave it to you.
2.Get a good description
of the passer and try to stall them if possible.
3.Call the local
police department or the United States Secret Service.
4.Write your initials
and the date on a blank portion of the bill so it doesn't get mixed
up with other dollar bills.
5.Handle the bill
as little as possible to avoid getting your fingerprints on it.
6.Don't give the
bill to anyone except police or the Secret Service.
Don't try to apprehend
the passer, or you could be attending your own funeral.
The Paper Makes
a Difference
People know what moneyfeels like. People, who handle money
constantly, like bank tellers,
cashiers and wait staff, can feel a counterfeitbill
instantly if the paper is wrong.
As soon as the person touches
the counterfeitmoney,
however, it will be obvious that something is wrong. That's because of the
paper.
The feel of money
That "feel of money"
comes from at least three different things that make the paper in paper
dollar bills unique:
·
Normal paper that you use on a day-to-day basis (newspaper, notebook
paper, paper in books, etc.) is made from the cellulose found
in trees. Paper used for money, on the other hand, is made from
cotton and linen fibers. This kind of paper is known as rag paper.
Those who understand how to make counterfeit money know this.
One
big advantage of using rag paper is the fact that it does not disintegrate
if you accidentally run paper money through a washing machine.
·
The paper used for money is thin compared to normal paper.
·
The paper used for money is squeezed with thousands of pounds
of pressure during the printing process. This makes it even thinner
and gives newly made dollar bills a special crispness.
The
other special thing about the rag paper used in real money
is that there
are tiny blue and red fibers
mixed into the paper when it is made. These
fibers are easy to find in real money, but they are so
fine that they do not reproduce very well in the counterfeitmoney
from your inkjet printer.
Getting Around Security Features
The
newest $20 bills
printed by the Treasury contain three special security features
that are impossible to fake with an inkjet printer.
Detecting Counterfeit
Money
A more important problem, however,
is that some of the inks used by the government are magnetic. Vending machines,
for one, are sensitive to these magnetic inks and use them to detectcounterfeits. The
treasury is also scanning dollar bills regularly to detectcounterfeits. According
to an article
from Wired Magazine, entitled "Junior Mints":
"Of
the 24.5 billion [bills] scanned and sorted last year, half
were $1 bills. They last 18 months in circulation and may be
scanned four or five times a year. A $100 bill may be scanned every
four years or so; people hold on to them far longer, on average.
Details about how, exactly,
these super scanners distinguish good dollar bills from bad are closely
guarded. Vending machines, for example, might compare the size of margins
on the front and back (looking for telltale out-of-register printing), or
scan the portrait, or sense the location of magnetic ink that the bureau uses
only in certain parts of the bill. "These machines are
much better than that," says Rosanna Pianalto, a policy analyst at Fed
headquarters in Washington, D.C. Each
machine has 30 kinds of sensors, and some no doubt pick up covert security
features."
As the counterfeitdollar
bills get used in vending machines and rejected, or as they make
their way into banks, where human tellers can feel the difference,
or when they get into the hands of an attentive convenience store worker who
rejects them, or when they make their way back to the scanning machines
at the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, they are detected. Once
they are detected, that alerts authorities to a counterfeiting problem
in a certain area of the country. Heightened vigilance, along with news stories
and public service announcements, helps to makedetection easier.
And eventually the counterfeiter
gets caught.
With teenagers who are casually
counterfeiting, capture
is often instantaneous. Teenagers usually make very stupid mistakes
when they create counterfeitdollar
bills:
·
The colors are off
·
The paper is wrong
·
They print on only one side
·
They give the money to classmates who report the crime
Therefore, punishment is swift
and sure.
Crime and Punishment
Counterfeiting is, of course,
a crime, and for a long time many countries punished it with death. If, after
a counterfeit note is passed
the first time, it remains undetected, it becomes a part of the monetary
system. At a time of full employment of resources it acts as a tax on the
general public in favor of the counterfeiter. It raises prices
by the percentage that the value of the counterfeit note bears to the total stock of money
in the economy. So, there are detector machines out there that will
check for detection of fake coins and dollars.
If numbers of resources are unemployed, counterfeit notes have the
effect of stimulating spending and, ultimately, reducing unemployment.
Thus, at a time of less than full employment, the counterfeiter might be considered
a public benefactor. Of course, counterfeit notes have never entered the monetary
system in sufficient volume to make these general effects operable.
Counterfeiting is
not a minor offense. It is not like running a red light, or even
shoplifting. These crimes are misdemeanors handled at the
local level by local police and courts. Counterfeiting, on
the other hand, is a federal felony handled by the U.S.
Secret Service. Those people who know how to make counterfeit
money are on thin ice.
FBI
In fact, the entire reason the Secret Service was originally created was
to handle counterfeiters. Only later did it take on the role of additionally
protecting the president and other key government officials.
The reason why counterfeiting is
treated as such a serious crime is because money is so important to
our society. Money is the oxygen of the economy. If people cannot
trust that the money they carry is authentic, then it gets much harder
to buy things and the economy slows down.
When you get caught counterfeiting --
and if you are counterfeiting you
will get caught eventually -- the
punishment can be unbelievably harsh. According
to this article
from Wired Magazine, entitled "Junior Mints":
"Under
federal statute 18 USC section 471, if you're found
guilty of making copies "in the likeness and similitude of US
currency ... unless they are much larger or much smaller than US currency"
(a minimum of 50 percent larger or 25 percent smaller) or unless they are
"rendered in black and white," you face up to 15 years in the slammer."
If up
to 15 years in prison is not enough to deter you, there are additional penalties
as well. Authorities will also seize any property used to create or pass the
dollar bills. That means your computer; printer and scanner will be
confiscated. You will also have to pay restitution and probably a number of
fines, too.
In other words, the picture
is pretty clear. When you create counterfeitdollar
bills, you will get caught. There are a ton of people out there looking
for fakedollar bills because they don't want to get ripped
off. When you get caught, the penalties will be severe, and it's likely
you will end up spending some time in jail. You will have a federal
felony arrest on your record, making it very hard to get a job.
In other words, you can't get
something for nothing, at least not if you are trying to do it by counterfeiting. Although
it is easy to print your own money, it never works when you try spending
it.
Protecting yourself
whether you are a normal person taking your change at a store, or you are
merchant accepting cash in your business, you need to be aware of the counterfeiting problem.
As you have seen, it is easy for teenagers to print counterfeitdollar
bills, and there are more sophisticated
counterfeiters who are actually bleaching out authentic dollar
bills and printing fakedollar bills onto the bleached paper.
Several Steps for protection
Here are several steps you can
take to protect yourself:
·
Be suspicious; take time to look at and feel the money you
receive.
·
Check for obvious things like
duplicate serial numbers. If possible, us detector machines that will check for detection of fake coins and dollars.
·
Be especially suspicious of older dollar bills (those bearing
old pre-1996 designs) and dollar bills of larger denominations.
·
Simply refuse to accept older dollar bills. Nearly all the
pre-1996 money that is actually legitimate has been taken out of circulation
and destroyed already.
·
Look at dollar bills in the light. The color-shift ink is
very hard to fake. The security stripe and watermark are impossible
to duplicate with an inkjet printer.
·
If you believe you are receiving a counterfeitbill,
call the police.
A lot
of work has gone into creating dollar bills that are hard to counterfeit. If
you use the new security features, it is very easy to detectcounterfeitdollar
bills.
For more information about counterfeiting and
related topics, check out the links on the following page.
Genuine coins are
struck (stamped out) by special machinery. Most counterfeitcoins are made by pouring liquid metal into molds
or dies. This procedure often leaves die marks, such as cracks or pimples
of metal on the counterfeitcoin.
Today counterfeitcoins are made primarily to simulate rare coins which are of value to collectors. Sometimes
this is done by altering genuine coins to
increase their numismatic value. The most common changes are the removal,
addition, or alteration of the coin's date
or mint marks.
If you suspect you are in possession of a counterfeit or
altered coin, compare
it with a genuine one of the same value.
If it
is above five cents in value, it
should have corrugated outer edges, referred to as “reeding.” Reeding on genuine
coins is even and distinct. The counterfeitcoin's reeding may be uneven, crooked, or missing
altogether.
http://www. factmonster. com/ipka/A0854788 .html
Classifications of Counterfeit money
To counterfeit means to imitate with intent to defraud.
Most counterfeit paper money
can be classified in one of three categories: notes that imitate legitimate
notes; alterations of legitimate notes, including notes raised from a lower
to a higher denomination; and spurious notes—that is, notes representing obligations
of fictional institutions.
Counterfeit notes of the period
prior to the CIVIL WAR had to be distinguished not only from ordinary legal tender, but also from
legitimate paper money circulating at a discount because it represented
obligations of broken or failed banks. (Such notes were legal and worth whatever
fraction of their face value the liquidated assets of the bank would permit.)
The circulation of both counterfeit notes and valid, but discounted, notes
of commercial banks gave rise to the publication of pamphlets
known as Bank Note Reporters and CounterfeitDetectors, published at any
interval from semi weekly to annually by money brokers
in centers of financial activity.
These pamphlets gave up-to-date information on the validity
and value of notes currently in use, and were used by any one who dealt in
large amounts of no local currency. After the effective end of state
bank-note issues in 1867, the Bank Note Reporters became unnecessary
because all bank-note and government-issued currency thenceforth circulated
at par.
Counterfeiting in the twenty-first
century is a minor part of total crime. The techniques, skills, and machinery required
for effective counterfeiting
are very costly and pay off well enough when used in legitimate enterprise
with much less risk.
Money Art
A subject related to that of counterfeiting is that of money art, which art that incorporates currency designs
or themes is. Some of these works of art are similar enough to actual dollar
bills that their legality is in question. While a counterfeit is made with deceptive intent, money art is not - however, the law may
or may not differentiate between the two. See JSG Boggs, the American artist
best known for his hand-drawn, one-sided copies of US banknotes which he spends
for the face value of the note.
http://en. wikipedia.
org/wiki/ Counterfeit_money
BEWARE OF "RAISED" COUNTERFEIT BILLS....
A common form of counterfeiting is
what is called "Raising a Note" - that is placing corners of a higher
denomination bill over the corners of a lower denomination bill.
I have actually asked for change with this bill and received $20.00.
Be sure to check the portraits and make sure the President's
portrait corresponds to the correct dollar denomination.
Washington -- Counterfeiting of
U.S. currency remains low, and the U.S. dollar continues to
be viewed as a highly reliable legal tender, according to a report published
jointly by the U.S. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the
U.S. Secret Service and the Department of the Treasury.
“People all over the world look to American currency
for safety and security,” U.S. Treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral
said in a press release that accompanied the report issued in late October.
“I am pleased to learn that while counterfeiters may try to undermine the integrity
of our money, American vigilance has upheld its reliability.”
The study attributes the success to intensive
data gathering and law enforcement, regular redesigning of American banknotes
and worldwide educational programs. As a result, only about one in 10,000
bills are counterfeited,
the study says. It is a good thing that there are detector machines
out there that will check for detection of fake coins and
dollars.
Of the $760 billion in circulation
as of December 2005, some $450 billion, or approximately 60 percent,
was held abroad. International demand for U.S. currency and its near-universal
acceptance as a form of payment is a direct result of its reliability and
stability, the report points out. "U.S. dollars (USD) are often found in countries with volatile political and
economic conditions," says the report, and usually remain in circulation
long after the conditions become more settled.
Foreign-held dollars are
used mostly to preserve value -- to hedge assets against inflation of local
currencies. They are also a popular means of exchange in cross-border
trade when credit markets and financial institutions are underdeveloped or
unreliable, and in informal, or “gray,” sectors of economy. Due to their easy
convertibility, they also are a currency of choice for international
travelers.
Unfortunately, the same factors that make
U.S. currency so popular also make it a prime counterfeiting target. Counterfeitdollar notes
are easy to move around and “pass” into circulation in all parts of the world,
and their manufacture presents a lucrative and often low-risk source of illegal
profit, the report says. In some countries, there are few or no legal procedures
in place to help detect and investigate counterfeiting schemes.
COUNTERFEITING HOT SPOTS
The report says that despite the growing
availability of counterfeiting technologies, a relatively small amount of counterfeitcurrency (about $61 million) was passed on to the public
worldwide in 2005. According to the study, the Latin America region and the region on Russia’s southern border, as well as the countries of
Colombia and
North
Korea, deserve
special mention as sources of counterfeit U.S. currency.
Counterfeit Bust
In the last four years, Colombia topped the list of countries where the largest amounts of counterfeit U.S.
notes were seized. The study says that in Colombia, as in some
other Latin American countries, criminal networks developed to
manufacture and distribute narcotics also are ideally suited to
deal in counterfeitcurrency. There are quite a few
people there who know how to make counterfeit money.