51–60 of 152 posts
Fun fact: in parts of East Africa, a $50 bill may be worth about 60-70 $1 dollar bills, due to the $1 bill being easier to counterfeit (and also more likely worn down).
In parts of the USA (well, amazon.com), you can buy bills of $10,000,000,000 from Africa for very little. example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L3536O2
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The state reserves some of the harshest punishments for counterfeiters, since large scale counterfeit operations is one of the few crimes that is an attack on the state itself. The US secret service was originally created specifically to combat counterfeit money, it's no surprise that they would keep tracking this man for a decade. This man is unusual because he did the tiniest amount of one the most severely punishe…
I have two "counterfeiting" stories - both of which are humorous even though one involve the Secret Service. The first was in college. A buddy of mine scribbled a facsimile of a $20 onto a piece of paper with a green marker. He then handed it to the checkout clerk at the cafeteria who took it and started to hand them back change. He stopped her and said "no, no it's a joke - look at what I just handed you". She was e…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The state reserves some of the harshest punishments for counterfeiters, since large scale counterfeit operations is one of the few crimes that is an attack on the state itself. The US secret service was originally created specifically to combat counterfeit money, it's no surprise that they would keep tracking this man for a decade. This man is unusual because he did the tiniest amount of one the most severely punishe…
I have two "counterfeiting" stories - both of which are humorous even though one involve the Secret Service. The first was in college. A buddy of mine scribbled a facsimile of a $20 onto a piece of paper with a green marker. He then handed it to the checkout clerk at the cafeteria who took it and started to hand them back change. He stopped her and said "no, no it's a joke - look at what I just handed you". She was e…
I remember my friend coming home from his first year in college and telling me about how he passed a counterfeit $30 he'd found to a clueless clerk and they actually made the correct change. My wise-ass response was that that wasn't actually counterfeit, it was just fraud.
About 20 years ago there was a gang that made fake Brazilian R$1 coins (they must have been worth 50 US cents then, I don't recall precisely). And I have collected a couple of very shady R$0,50 coins that I'm pretty sure are fake. I collect commemorative coins so I always check my change carefully. I don't think the materials are expensive, but the electricity required might be. So my guess is that this might make se…
The biggest tells were poor reeding quality and slightly soft detailing. On very low quality fakes, the face and obverse weren't aligned, though I never encountered one of these in the wild.
> 10 years went by and the search for Mister 880 turned into the largest and most expensive counterfeit investigation in Secret Service history. The article doesn't explain why the Secret Service made this their biggest case, and it doesn't make much sense to me. If the dollars were accepted by the general population, it would cause an infinitesimal increase in inflation of no consequence to others. And if shopkeeper…
A small leak can sink a ship. The fake dollars weren't knowingly accepted. If public confidence in the value of money is lost, we're all in big trouble. The Secret Service was right to pursue the case zealously.
One dollar in 1943 is worth about $19 today's dollars. He started in 1938 and was arrested in 1948: 1938 23.42 1943 19.09 1948 13.70 Enough to buy some supplies, but how did he pay the rent? Perhaps he owned his apartment. https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1948?amount=1
If $1 is $19 I am suprised more people didnt check that their $1 notes are legit back then. Story makes it sound like $1 was chump change.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have two "counterfeiting" stories - both of which are humorous even though one involve the Secret Service. The first was in college. A buddy of mine scribbled a facsimile of a $20 onto a piece of paper with a green marker. He then handed it to the checkout clerk at the cafeteria who took it and started to hand them back change. He stopped her and said "no, no it's a joke - look at what I just handed you". She was e…
> The first was in college. I remember my friend coming home from his first year in college and telling me about how he passed a counterfeit $30 he'd found to a clueless clerk and they actually made the correct change. My wise-ass response was that that wasn't actually counterfeit, it was just fraud.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The first was in college. I remember my friend coming home from his first year in college and telling me about how he passed a counterfeit $30 he'd found to a clueless clerk and they actually made the correct change. My wise-ass response was that that wasn't actually counterfeit, it was just fraud.
The fraud of passing off something of lesser value as the genuine article is the definition of counterfeiting.
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The fraud of passing off something of lesser value as the genuine article is the definition of counterfeiting.
But there is no such thing as a “genuine” $30 bill.