Counterfeiting money is one of the world’s oldest crimes.
Historically, those caught counterfeiting would be put to death.
Nowadays, in the United States, there’s a lesser penalty of a fine or up to 15 years
in prison.
But that doesn’t mean the crime is any less prevalent.
So, how much of our money is fake?
In the United States, the only institution officially allowed to print money is the Federal
Reserve.
Any other money printed, is fake, and devalues the rest of the legitimate currency.
In the US, before a national currency was adopted in 1862, state banks produced their
own currency.
At the time, between one-third and one-half of the money in circulation was thought to
be counterfeit.
But more recently, in a 2006 report, the United States Department of Treasury estimated that
about 1 note in 10,000 is counterfeit.
That’s just a small fraction-of-a-percent, of the total money in circulation.
The Treasury takes sophisticated steps to prevent counterfeiting, like using color-shifting
ink on bills, water marks, and ridges.
But new technologies are always making it easier to print fake money.
Nearly 60% of the counterfeit money confiscated in the US last year was printed on inkjet
or laser printers.
In 2014, the FBI thwarted a plan based in Uganda, to spread more than a million US dollars
throughout the world.
Other major currencies are counterfeited too, like the Euro.
In December 2014, Italian officials uncovered a shipment from China containing half a million
fake Euro coins.
The European Central Bank has said that the number of counterfeit bills removed from
circulation hit a three-year high in 2013.
A mass amount of counterfeit money come from places like Peru, Colombia, North Korea and
China.
The US has accused North Korea of creating “super US dollars” - which are counterfeit
notes of an even higher quality than Treasury created bills.
About $45 million super dollars are thought to be in circulation, and bring in an estimated
$15 to $25 million a year to North Korea.
United States Financial authorities, as well as Europol, and other financial agencies,
keep a close watch on the prevalence of counterfeit money.
As technology of printing changes, it’s important that new anti-counterfeiting measures
be used in printing official currency.
Wondering what measures are in place to make counterfeiting money so difficult?
Check out this video from DNews to learn how to spot a fake bill!
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