The amount of counterfeit money being accepted by consumers and stores in the USA is climbing as crooks are increasingly using inexpensive home computers and printers to produce phony money.
Increased Counterfeit Activity
The most recent data available, relating to fiscal year 2006, shows that about $62 million in fake currency was circulated in the United States. That represents a more than 10% increase from the prior year and a 69% rise from just three years earlier, according to the latest data from the Secret Service.
The crooks are bold. One person who was arrested charged people, including an undercover agent, for a counterfeiting how-to class. One man was arrested after dancers in a strip club realized he was passing out fake bills and called police while the bouncer held the man. A 62-year-old woman known as Grandma was caught trying to sell fake money at less than face value.
Technology is making it easier for the people trying to do this on their own, say financial crimes investigators from the Los Angeles Police Department.
Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren says the ease of using home computers to make counterfeit money has added challenges to catching counterfeiters. About 54% of the counterfeit currency collected in fiscal 2006 was made using digital technology vs. so-called offset printing, which involves more skill, time and expense. In 1996, only 1% of counterfeits were digitally produced, according to the Secret Service.
The government has been updating U.S. bills to try to thwart counterfeiters. In 2003, the $20 bill, the most frequently counterfeited currency in the USA, was the first to feature a color other than green. Other features such as a watermark and color-shifting ink also were added. Since then, new $10 bills and $50 bills have entered circulation, and earlier this year, a new $5 bill was introduced.
