51–60 of 84 posts
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CIA? What exactly did they do?
The previous comment is probably misremembering; the U.S. Secret Service is responsible for investigating counterfeiting, which seems pretty odd if you're only familiar with them as personal security for presidents.
Never ever do this, esp in the US, even as a joke. I know of cases in my college where students counterfeited $20 bills as a drunk joke: what they found out is that irrespective of the amount federal agents and the goddam CIA got involved and they got persecuted to the maximum degree. My prof was called as an expert witness in the case.
Apparently he was back home partying it up with some of his home town friends... when the Secret Service kicked down the door in the middle of a party, immediately subdued his friend (the counterfeiter), and left abruptly.
Apparently he never saw that kid again.
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I disagree. In the article Kuhl had a legitimate buyer who backed out. The bills where printed and Kuhl needed a buyer. The police decided to become the buyer but the counterfeit bills had already been created and the artist would have found a buyer eventually.
The reason I added that EDIT is because I actually hadn't read that far down yet - I was just referring to his first counterfeiting gig when I first posted the comment: inline search the article for "Kuhl’s counterfeiting career had begun a decade earlier" and read from there. Of course you have no basis for your claim that he would have eventually found a buyer. This is a "manufactured criminal" and the police certa…
Considering that the central banks have conjured trillions of dollars and euros out of thin air, this story this seems sadly quaint...
Nobody is printing money out of thin air. When they print more money, they value of the $20 that is in your pocket decreases slightly, but the value of your house increases substantially.
Everybody knows it's not wise to store 100% of your worth in cash.
In Australia, we've had polymer notes for 20 years, and counterfeiting is a thing of the past, to the point where I was puzzled as to why someone in the US was marking my $50 note during a purchase while visiting. Paper notes feel nice, but polymer lasts longer and are effectively counterfeit-proof. Prior to this, we had a woeful $100 note, which was black and white with a bit of subtle colour. Pretty, but a dumb ide…
US currency isn't printed on paper.
There was a fascinating article about this on Planet Money a few weeks back, including an interview with the head of Crane's, the company that provides the source paper to the US Mint.
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Few know? That's part of every grammar school boys education. Or was, in my day. Newton sending a couple of dozen men off to Tyburn to be hanged, drawn and quartered was quite memorable.
I live in the United States and grew up in Canada. It certainly is not in the curriculum here, and has been a surprise to everyone I've mentioned it to around here. If you grew up somewhere else, it may be common knowledge there.
I should have mentioned I grew up and went to school in England, and learning the ins and outs of luminaries like Sir Issac Newton was part of history class.
To be fair, we only touched on American history, and obviously seen from the other side of the coin. We kicked out the religious pilgrims so we could get back to partying and starting the industrial revolution.
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Totally. A friend in I tried this (not in the US) using bills approximately $20 in value. We had a mediocre Epson printer and just did the approach of scan+print. We'd then handle the bills and throw them with dirt. Nothing fancy; just two kids playing around to get some extra beer money and also just to see if we could pull it off. Out of the 10 times we tried using the fakes, we only were noticed once. It's very, v…
This sounds very fishy. Imaging and scaning software, along with printer drivers have built in currency detectors to prevent this.
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I live in the United States and grew up in Canada. It certainly is not in the curriculum here, and has been a surprise to everyone I've mentioned it to around here. If you grew up somewhere else, it may be common knowledge there.
That's because world history in America is much the same as the world series - fully encompassing of the whole world, with countries as far afield as.... Canada :) I should have mentioned I grew up and went to school in England, and learning the ins and outs of luminaries like Sir Issac Newton was part of history class. To be fair, we only touched on American history, and obviously seen from the other side of the coi…
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Do you complain that movies take too long with the plot when you haven't seen the villain vanquished by the 5-minute mark?
No. Movies are there primarily to entertain. News stories are there to inform. If I wanted the dramatic, drawn-out version, I'd see the "based on a true story!" version. There are lots of events I could be learning about in a day, and I'd like to be able to get the important stuff out of a new story and go on to the other stuff. In contrast, you can't similarly shorten a movie while sticking to its purpose (usually).
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But, this isn't math! It's a story, with characters and a plot. The intrigue is baked-in because it makes for an enjoyable read. Sure, the details are interesting, but there's nothing wrong with telling an interesting story with interesting details in an interesting way. "First this happened and then this happened and then this happened..." is not how you tell a story, regardless of whether or not the story happens t…
If I want an artistic short story in magazine form, I'll read the New Yorker. But this is Wired, and the material facts of this story are the only interesting part. I guess it's possible that a gifted author could wrap these fact with a human-interest element in a way that is worthwhile while still communicating an essential idea ("The Last Question" by Asimov comes to mind). But, by experience, this just isn't withi…
The facts are simple:
1. some guy made good counterfeit money
2. he got caught through a series of mistakes
a. sloppy waste disposal
b. over trusting
This is the same pattern as for most crimes. Seriously, minus the murder bit, it's a law and order episode. What I want to know, is not the predictable sequence of events, but who would do this, why would they do this, tell me the thought process that leads to these actions.