Looks good to me.
Posted on 11/09/2003 12:27:03 PM PST by freedom44
ST. LOUIS, Nov. 8 — A month since the introduction of redesigned $20 bills meant to thwart counterfeiters, copies are already starting to circulate.
In the latest case, Margretta Saffold of Missouri was accused on Friday by federal grand jurors of passing four fakes of the new $20 bill on Oct. 16 — a week after the revamped notes were introduced nationally.
The case brings to at least nine the number of people arrested nationwide — in Alabama, California, Tennessee, Utah and now Missouri — in cases involving counterfeits of the new bill, said Jean Mitchell, a spokeswoman for the Secret Service. Nearly 200 bogus versions of the new bill have already surfaced, she said.
Ms. Saffold, 33, is the first person to be indicted in connection with the revamped $20 bill, Ms. Mitchell said. She was charged with one felony count of passing counterfeit currency and faces up to 20 years in jail and $250,000 in fines if convicted.
In a world where commercially available digital equipment has made counterfeiting easier, cheaper and often harder to detect, "people are taking opportunities to challenge the system," Ms. Mitchell said.
Along with the traditional green and black colors, the new $20 notes also include faint touches of peach and blue in certain spots on the bills. Tiny number 20's are printed on the back of the notes in yellow.
The Secret Service says counterfeit bills might look mottled or blurry. Another giveaway is that red and blue fibers are embedded in the paper of genuine currency, and the marks are only printed on the surface of fake currency.
Note that the crime is only of "passing" counterfeit currency - not making it. So you too can unknowingly receive a fake bill, and "pass" it to someone who is able to identify it as a fake - and face a felony charge (and associated loss of voting and firearms rights) and face 20 years in jail and $250,000 in fines.
Looks good to me.
These bills were all detected as fakes.
The new bills have the metallic-colored "20" at the lower right hand corner that changes color from metallic copper to metallic green by turning the bill at an angle. Try duplicating that little trick on a color copier.
If a merchant or customer is too lazy to do a simple check on the authenticity of the cash they receive, they deserve to get stuck with a counterfeit.
Just like the real ones.
She "unknowinly" passed FOUR of them. Only charged with one.
Maybe she broke a $100 bill at her last stop. Or withdrew $80 from the ATM.
Do you carefully study cash you receive, or do you stuff it into your moneyclip/wallet/purse and fumble for your keys. For me, it's the latter...
Good to know I can be prosecuted for it. Don't you think confiscating the money from this woman would teach her enough of a lesson? Or can only federal prison do that?
Actually, the way they're printed, some also look to be 10's and even 70's. They're not exact "20", unless of course I've gotten some bad ones, and if that's so, then they're more bogus bills out there than the small number reported here.
If I ever get $100 together at the same time, I'll let you know.
There's more to this story and maybe even it's in the NY Times but I am not going to join their web site just to find out.
I am not so paranoid as to think the authorities are picking on this "innocent" person for "accidently" passing counterfeit.
Can't counterfeit Lady Liberty!
One restaurant near me had a bogus $50 fastened to the inside of a glass case with "VOID" written across front and back with a bold black marker. The manager told me he suspects one of the staff swapped it for $50 in real money but unfortunately he couldn't tell who (not sure why or how their cash-handling procedures work).
Can't counterfeit Lady Liberty!
Wanna bet? ;-)
I was wondering about that. What percentage of platinum in a platinum-tungsten alloy would be necessary to match the density of gold? Could it be done with a small enough percentage to make the alloy gram-for-gram cheaper than gold?
One of the big advantages of gold over silver is that there are very few materials that are as dense as gold; it is thus hard to produce a counterfeit which will withstand even a basic density test. BTW, I was surprised when the military reported the "gold" bricks found in Iraq were IIRC painted lead; lead is so much lighter than gold I would have thought lead could have been easily ruled out (e.g. army guy radios in "These bricks are labeled '24kt 10kg', weigh 22lbs, and measure 3"x1½"x12". Guy in base looks up bulk properties of gold, determines that a 10kg gold bar of 3"x1½" cross section should only be 7" long.)
Does anyone make counterfeit gold coins that won't be detected by a water displacement test?
I'll take up that challange but it will only deal with the water displacement test.
In Roman days, countefeiters produced coins now called fourees (French for "coated") by modern numismatists. The countefeiters would engrave fake dies and then strike bronze cores that had sheets of real silver foil on each side. The resulting coin would an "Oreo" coin: Silver on the outside and bronze on the inside.
The following example is a fouree denarius made during the reign of Trajan. The green spots are verdigris on the exposed bronze where the silver plating has erroded.
By making a fouree with gold plating and, say, some lead in a non-gold inner core, you can get the coin to pass the water displacement test by fiddling with the numbers so that the total wieight and the displaced volume correlates with the specific gravity of the gold coin type you want to counterfeit.
However, such a coin would miserably fail the "rings true" test. CLUNK!!!
In counterfeiting gold coins, however, the real risk is having a counterfeit coin made out of genuine gold that is made to pass as a gold coin having a rare coin type, date or mint mark.
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