Digital Printing Technology Aiding Counterfeiters
Counterfeiters of U.S. currency are increasingly relying on computer-based technologies including digital printing to produce their bogus bills. “The widespread use of personal computers and advancements in digital printing technology has provided more individuals the opportunity to manufacture a passable counterfeit note with relative ease,” Government Security News reports. The magazine refers to a “tidal wave” of counterfeiters making bills with a computer and digital printing. The Secret Service estimates that 61 percent of the counterfeit money passed domestically in fiscal 2011 was produced using digital printing, compared with less than 1 percent in 1995. The agency said last year it made 2,673 domestic arrests and 280 foreign arrests for counterfeiting offenses, seizing more than $70 million in counterfeit currency before it entered circulation and helping to remove more than $115 million in bogus bills from circulation. In one recent case, the Secret Service arrested a Washington man seeking to trade thousands of dollars in counterfeit currency produced by digital printing in exchange for a .357 caliber handgun. Authorities reportedly paid the man $800 in genuine currency for about $6,500 in counterfeit bills. The bogus $20 and $50 bills were on uncut sheets of paper, with four bills to a sheet, and were missing security features like a watermark. He was arrested when he agreed to provide another $8,000 in counterfeit bills for the handgun.
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