Posted on 01/14/2008 11:07:57 PM PST by canuck_conservative
DANDONG, China — In a Bank of China branch in this river city that borders North Korea, a currency changer stinking of alcohol pulled out a thick wad of cash from around the world and carefully removed a counterfeit 2003 series U.S. $100 bill.
The fake came from a North Korean businessman, he said, adding that, "The ones from Europe are much better." Were these fakes, so close to perfect that they're called "supernotes," made in the isolated communist country? The man, who refused to give his name for fear of arrest, shrugged and said he doubted that the North Koreans were capable of pulling it off.
To the untrained eye, the supernotes look just like the real thing. McClatchy tested its supernote on waiters, journalists, average folks and currency experts, and it was virtually impossible for any of them to distinguish it from a real $100 bill.
Here's why a supernote is super.
* The paper appears to be made from the same cotton and linen mix that distinguishes U.S. currency from others. It includes the watermarks visible from the other side of the bill, colored microfibers woven into the substrate of the banknote and an embedded strip, barely visible, that reads USA 100 and glows red under ultraviolet light.
* The fake $100 bill includes microprint that's \2,000th of an inch tall. It appears as a line to the naked eye, but under a magnification is actually lettering around the coat of Benjamin Franklin or hidden in the number 100 that reads either USA 100 or The United States of America.
* The bills include the same optically variable ink, or OVI, that's used on the number 100 on the bottom right side of the bill. This ink is based on ....
(Excerpt) Read more at mcclatchydc.com ...
More - Timeline for the mysterious supernotes:
1989: First nearly perfect fake $100 detected in a Philippine bank.
Early 1990s: Secret Service doesn’t confirm existence of supernotes.
April 1992: Russia’s Izvestia newspaper reports high-quality supernotes abound, are made in Russia and that one in 10 dollar banknotes in Russia is fake.
February 1996: Congress holds hearings; Republicans blame Iran and Syria.
1996: Bureau of Engraving and Printing redesigns the $100 bill. The banknotes add security features and an off-center, larger portrait of Ben Franklin. In less than a year, supernotes appear.
Late 1990s: North Korean diplomats were caught passing supernotes in Asian capitals; diplomatic immunity prevents prosecution.
Sept 30, 2004: Grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicts Irish Workers Party leader Sean Garland, accuses him of retrieving fakes from North Korean Embassy in Moscow.
March 2005: At U.S. request, Interpol issues first of two orange alerts, calling on nations to refrain from selling banknote equipment or supplies to North Korea.
August 2005: Secret Service announces two separate sting operations — Royal Charm and Smoking Dragon. Chinese crime gangs accused of smuggling supernotes into New Jersey and Los Angeles. Later indictment alleges attempts to smuggle shoulder-fired missiles, too.
Jan. 26, 2006: President Bush accuses North Korea of faking U.S. currency, legally an act of war, and calls for a stop to it.
July 26, 2006: At U.S. request, Interpol holds conference in Lyon, France, but Secret Service presents no hard evidence, citing intelligence.
Aug. 8, 2007: Bush tells McClatchy his accusations were based on intelligence. State Department later drops counterfeiting from list of public complaints against Pyongyang.
Excuse me. Gotta go to the bank.
I’m guessing the chicoms
The article makes it sound like Russia is the source - maybe not so surprising, considering the meddlesome KGB is still very much alive and kicking.
Their top spook is Prez.
I think I might have gotten faked $1 bills before
why anyone would make a fake $1 bill?
beats me,
counterfeiters working harder for their money?
Wait, so the ink on U.S. currency is from a Swiss company? Nothing against Switzerland, but is ANYTHING made here anymore?
Oh it couldn’t possibly be the North Koreans, after all Comrade Chia Pet is Bush’s new buddy!
No longer part of the ‘Axis of Evil’, Kim Jong Il is dismantling his nuclear weapons program, has made promises to behave to Chris Hill, Nicholas Burns, and of course that means that Condi the Piano Player has every confidence in those promises too, so it must be somebody else trying to FRAME the North Koreans for this despicable act of war!
How could anyone accuse the peace loving regime of the Dear Leader of such terrible things?
[Do I really need the “/sarc off” tag here?]
Clearly it is time that everybody had an invisible bar code tattooed on their foreheads.
Well, the article points out that all the extraordinary efforts that went into these super-fakes, makes it sound like something only a government would have the resources to do ....
I have an idea: Whenever somebody is discovered to have created “counterfeit” money, the Federal Reserve just prints that much less of their counterfeit money, and everything comes out even.
btt
Ping.
Lake Toplitz and those British five pound notes - perfect counterfeit notes.
Bad guess. The PRC holds a lot of dollars as their reserve currency; devaluing the dollar would just make themselves poorer.
North Korea makes sense. They have the means, motive and opportunity. While they're a financial basket case, they do have technical skill, and a whole f'n country with no one looking. They have al the technology they can beg or borrow from Russia and China, steal from the South, or buy from AQ Khan.
There’s a fellow named J.S. Boggs, you could probably find a webpage on him. He *freehands* US notes, and very well. As you might imagine, the secret service has taken a somewhat dim view of this gentleman. Apparently he doesn’t try to pass them off as genuine currency, but upfront will offer them in “trade”, say, at a diner or restaurant.
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