"Counterfeit Cash," by Alpha Unit

In Memphis, Tennessee, two early morning Black Friday shoppers were arrested for passing counterfeit bills. Police confiscated a total of about $1,600 in fake bills, computer equipment to make fake bills, and methamphetamine. The circumstances are similar to earlier cases, such as the case in Oklahoma City in which two people were arrested after a raid at their home. Police found large amounts of marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine, along with several sheets of counterfeit 20-dollar bills. Materials and equipment for making fake currency were found in a home in Santa Rosa, California, during a raid. In addition to counterfeit bills the police found drug paraphernalia and methamphetamine. Not that long ago counterfeiting was a difficult and expensive operation. The best counterfeiters were skilled printers who used heavy offset presses to turn out pretty convincing 20s, 50s, and 100s. Doing so required the ability to cut intricate designs by hand into metal plates. Not anymore. A lot of teenagers in this country can tell you that all you need to make fake money nowadays are a PC, a scanner, and color inkjet printer. (Of course, those teenagers are usually caught in no time, since it’s not easy to produce truly authentic-looking bills.) In case after case of counterfeiting you will see drug use implicated – particularly methamphetamine. Meth addicts often steal mail and commit other property crimes to get their hands on the money they need for their habit. They can stay awake and focused on repetitive tasks for days, making them good at such crimes as forgery, identity theft, altering checks, and trying to perfect counterfeit currency. Millions of dollars worth of counterfeit cash is supposed to be in circulation in the United States, and there’s usually an uptick in detection during the holidays. Counterfeiters see this as the ideal time to try to pass fake bills; that’s when they think they’re more likely to get away with it. A business that ends up with counterfeit bills doesn’t get compensated for the loss and usually raises prices to make up for it. If you end up with a counterfeit bill, the US Secret Service wants you to tell them. They say to notify your local police department or the nearest Secret Service field office. There’s no financial compensation for turning it in, though. Central banks say that to do so would subsidize counterfeiting, providing a financial reward for counterfeiters’ criminal behavior. Turning it in is just another civic duty.

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13 thoughts on “"Counterfeit Cash," by Alpha Unit”

  1. I think using counterfeit bills should only be illegal if you verbally tell the person accepting the bills that the bills are federal reserve notes. Even though the “counterfeit” bills appear as federal reserve notes it is only a act of deception if you say they are federal reserve notes and if the “counterfeit” bills are used in exchange it is not the fault of the person using the bills that the other person mistakes them for real federal reserve notes. The reason making counterfeit bills should not be illegal is because it is against our right to free expression. Part of free expression is artistic freedom and part of artistic freedom is the freedom to create whatever images we want to create by using ink.

  2. Most of the “money” in circulation is ones and zeros on computer hard disks anyway. So I don’t see much difference between small-time counterfeiters and the government/banks – except that the former invest a lot more effort into their “money” than the latter.

    1. except that the former invest a lot more effort into their “money” than the latter.
      ————————————–
      And that’s the difference. Money is a measure of “effort”.
      I don’t see your point. Are you saying that the government and banks “print” money and so the money is counterfeit? If this is your point, you’re retarded.

      1. Actually, its not retarded in the slightest. The only thing that makes fiat currency into legal tender is government guns. All other ways of looking at it are delusional. There is nothing remotely different between a small time crook with a printing press and a big time bankster crook pressing a few buttons on a computer to inflate the currency. They both do the same: debase the purchasing power of those around them.
        The people who get hosed the worst are the poor as their ‘money’ will never hold its value. Try being homeless and/or near-homeless and see what devalued currency does to your life. It may just surprise you.

        1. I’m not getting it, either, that a counterfeiting operation is essentially no different from central banking. The government may be forcing me to use fiat currency, but how does that make counterfeit money its equivalent?

        2. Its counterfeit because money is merely a medium of exchange. Its counterfeit because money is NOT determined by statute, but by market. Its counterfeit because it steals your productivity. That means it has stolen your past (the time it took to create the ‘money’). It means it steals your future (debasement of the currency). It is essentially a form of neo-feudalistic serfdom.

          1. Neo-feudalistic serfdom sounds intense.
            You make an interesting point, but how many counterfeiters should we be required to tolerate?

  3. If in doubt about the authenticity of currency , immediately take it to the nearest gentleman’s club and have one of the single mothers,er , I mean experts, verify it up close.

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