Posted on 01/12/2008 7:02:14 AM PST by Non-Sequitur
DANDONG, China | The currency changer, brazenly plying his illegal trade in the Bank of China lobby, pulled out a thick wad of cash from around the world and carefully removed a bill.
The 2003 series U.S. $100 bill was a fake, but not just any fake. It was a “supernote,” a counterfeit so perfect it’s an international whodunit.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
Paging Kim Jong Il...
It could be the Iranians/North Koreas. In the 50s the US gave the Shaw the paper and ink and to produce their own currency. They have been counter fitting since the 80s.
Read the article. It makes it clear that North Korea doesn't have the machinery or materials to make the bills. Iran might, but why make so little? If they're doing it then one would expect them to open the floodgates and produce billions of dollars worth and destroy the faith in the $100 bill. It makes more sense that these bills are being used to track some activity be it drugs or terrorists. In any case it's an interesting article.
The fake bills are from North Korea. American money in $100 denominations is carefully scrutinized in the PRC. They know what’s going on.
Look at the source CIA. Many other sources have Iran printing billions of dollars per year. North K. did not print as much. Who bought the treasury’s old machines?
I’ve heard the NK origin stories before too. It’s not that hard to print fakes. Luckily it’s hard to spend cash here in the good-ole US of A. Otherwise every 14 year old boy with access to a scanner and an inkjet printer would be a millionaire.
I guess it’s not as difficult to spend cash overseas.
I’m a printer and I have people ask me once in a while how hard is it to counterfeit? I ask them who are they trying to fool? The checkout clerk at the gas station, or the Federal Reserve? It’s not making the fakes that’s difficult. It’s spending enough of them before you go to jail to make it worth doing that is difficult. They will catch you. You will go to jail. It’s just a matter of time.
Did you think that they made it clear? All they said was that one Swiss official doubted the North Koreans could have done it based on the quality of actual North Korean currency.
If it is the North Koreans, it appears that they don't want to destabilize U.S. currency, rather just print enough hard currency to pay for Hennessey and Mercedes. They could easily have stockpiled OVI and other printing supplies (paid for with hundred dollar bills).
BTW, the Germans did counterfeit British currency during World War II and used it to pay off spies.
What, you think they sold them on ebay?
Most likely it came from North Korea about 6 years ago, somebody used those funds to buy something and it went into circulation, something big and expensive.
These notes are extremely good and had a lot of banks worried some years ago, actually this is old news of a sort.
The Iranians have done it before, what makes you think they would not do it again? They did it for almost 20 years.
Just 18 moths ago, they attempted to set up a petro-euro market.
It seems that we cannot even gauge the extent of the N Korean nuclear weapons program let alone their printing capabilities.
funny money pong
Actually they quote John Bolton, no liberal, as saying he never saw any evidence that North Korea actually manufactured the notes, though they were caught distributing them. Which would seem to support the idea that these notes were manufactured in order to distribute through certain channels and follow the paper trail. It could be that they're being used to identify links between terrorist organizations and rogue nations, certain individuals and terrorist organizations, things like that. Of course it that is the case then McClatchy newspapers have just torpedoed it.
BTW, the Germans did counterfeit British currency during World War II and used it to pay off spies.
Yes they did. But the currency of 60 years ago is nowhere near as high tech as currency now. They didn't have the embedded strips and the micro-printing used on today's notes.
Excellent answer!
You might also point out that the new printers and copiers that they bought have software that detects attempts to copy/print banknotes, and will tattle on them...
No chance. The article says that they've detected 19 different versions of the note, each version corresponding to a tiny change in the U.S. engraving plate. Why would any counterfiter go to that trouble when they can keep on cranking out their older version? A more plausible explanation might be that every time the Bureau of Engraving created new plates a second set was made for the purposes of this program. Then they embedded an identifying flaw and kept on printing their notes for their own purposes.
Nothing in the article makes it clear (to me, at least) that it isn’t the North Koreans. They have the motive and opportunity, you are questioning the means. It is interesting that a lot of the bogus currency has been traced to North Korean diplomats. Like I said, how else does he finance all those Mercedes and Hennessey?
Non-Sequitur ~ Yes they did. But the currency of 60 years ago is nowhere near as high tech as currency now. They didn't have the embedded strips and the micro-printing used on today's notes.
IIRC, they had a dickens of a time cracking the code that related the plate numbers to the bill's serial numbers
A friend who is 'in the loop' told me that our modern bank notes have 5400 separate security features. I imagine just figuring out what they all are, let alone duplicating each one, is somewhat challenging...
Let me ask you this. What better way to find out who or what is funding North Korea than to distribute bank notes and watch where they go to? North Korea doesn't have the means to generate hard currency, yet they come up with it. If you make 10 different versions of the $100 bill, each perfect except for one single, minute, deliberate flaw, then distribute these notes through 10 different channels, wouldn't the version(s) the North Koreans are caught with identify who was funding them?
Many businesses where I shop will routinely swipe some kind of felt-tip marker across the paper of the bill. So there is some kind of chemistry test, too.
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