Adventures With Counterfeit Money

30th November 2009: Today Neil J. Petermann at thestandard of counterfeit bills continues to fall, with
blog This Ain't Your Father's Office notes the storycriminals seeking the minimum to fool people.
of 3 Maryland teenagers arrested for copying 10Back in 1995, when the Kansas Secret Service found
dollar bills. So poor was the quality of the moneythat inkjet counterfeits accounted for only 1% of
they produced, the would-be counterfeiters werefake bills, the Toledo Blade reported on the surprise
caught the first time they tried using the cash - of allquality of one counterfeiting operation. A pair in
things, while buying cigars underage. The teenagersMichigan had succeeded in exchanging $50,000 in fake
employed a standard colour copier.bills through an Austrian bank, produced using an
Once upon a time counterfeiting was the pastime ofexpensive copier. Police at the time had believed the
these equipped with costly printing presses, seekingbills to be professional quality, and were surprised to
to reproduce currency both for financial gain anddiscover them the work of two men in their
prestige. Yet the advent of the inkjet printer hasmid-twenties. This only goes to show the importance
apparently devastated the quality standard ofof high-quality equipment in counterfeiting - aside
counterfeiting operations - even as it has increasedfrom being 'a bit glossy,' the bills produced by the
their frequency. In January, the Kansas City StarMichigan pair looked authentic, and had succeeded in
featured a short interview with a Secret Servicefooling a number of bank tellers.
agent, complaining about the low standards ofMoreover, the internet is a virtual hub for people
criminals printing money. Where the counterfeit dollarlooking into counterfeiting money. Websites like
was once considered a 'product' in itself, subject tosupply a detailed 'How To' for printing money in the
quality standards, today anyone with an Inkjet canguise of describing the process, aside articles about
supplement their income.health and safety. In other words, computers have
The Kansas City Star reports that in the periodsupplied not only the means but the knowledge for
October 2007 - August 2008, $103 million in falsepeople 'who want to get something for nothing.' And
money was removed from circulation, 60% of whichwhile most amateur counterfeiters are immediately
came from ordinary copiers. The problem iscaught - as with the teenagers today in Maryland -
particularly bad in a recession, with people printing notthe appeal of counterfeiting money means the
only $50 but even $5 and even $1 bills. Yet theproblem is unlikely to disappear.