Your money is no good. Seriously, your money is no good!

[Gerry]

I am stunned by the number of counterfeit $100 bills floating around here.

I know of someone who sold a motorcycle for $3700. The buyer paid in cash. When the seller went to the bank to deposit the funds the teller told him they were bogus bills.

The perps are taking ones, bleaching them in a chemical bath solution, then using a printer to print the image of a 100 on them. The appearance from what I have seen and hear on the news is excellent. You have real fed issued paper so the look and feel is all there.

Now they are showing up all over North Carolina. The other night I sold a kayak for 500 bucks but told the buyer not to bring cash. He thought I was nuts! Then he understood.

I someone else interested in another kayak call tonight. He told me he was a lawyer in Charlotte and pay cash. I asked him if he was aware of all the bogus bills in the Charlotte area (a 15 and 16 year old busted at a convenience store). He reminded me that he was a lawyer and could be trusted. Then he laughed real loud. He said, "never mind. I'll bring a certified check".

The irony? This process was recently featured on a prime time sting operation. The actual chemicals were purposely not mentioned in the undercover recording.

Like they can't find it on the internet.

[Raider]

I know of someone who sold a motorcycle for $3700. The buyer paid in cash. When the seller went to the bank to deposit the funds the teller told him they were bogus bills.

It makes more sense to just steal the motorcycle, where any theft under $5000 is a misdemeanor, Now he's facing Felony charges of passing counterfeit currency, which the feds take very serious. And the Motorcycle is as good as stolen anyway, he would have to be complete idiot to re-register it in his name at the DMV, or use the original license plates.

It's almost like robbing a bank and writing "Give me all your money" on the back of the robbers deposit slip.

Aside from all that, I find it hard to believe they can get the color and clarity of the bills right, But I guess they don't have to, since most people don't know what to look for.

[Focus]

No need to make funny money...that's what domaining is for! duh.

[jberryhill]

It's almost like robbing a bank and writing "Give me all your money" on the back of the robbers deposit slip.

That happened to me one time.

Someone thought it would be "funny" to write a holdup note on the back of a withdrawal slip and place it back into the stack at the desk. I was taking out something like $50, and the teller emptied her drawer and pushed all of the money toward me. I looked at her like she was nuts and she said, "That's what you want, isn't it?" and showed me the back of the slip. I put my hands on the counter where they could be seen and said, "No, I didn't know that was there, and I'm not going to move" and waited for the police to arrive to sort it all out.

[Acro]

John, that was hilarious.

[draggar]

It makes more sense to just steal the motorcycle, where any theft under $5000 is a misdemeanor, Now he's facing Felony charges of passing counterfeit currency, which the feds take very serious. And the Motorcycle is as good as stolen anyway, he would have to be complete idiot to re-register it in his name at the DMV, or use the original license plates.

I'll agree - he can just keep an eye on the VIN and when someone tries to register it they can be bagged for receiving of stolen goods, if he fingers him as the buyer, then passing counterfeit money can be added on (plus the theft of the motorcycle).

[Gerry]

A band of ones cost 100 dollars.

For every one hundred dollars spent on real paper, the perp now has $10,000.00.

From a criminal's point of view, if you are going to commit a crime of even bothering to wash the bills and reprint, why debate whether he should have stolen the bike instead of paying for it?

Counterfeiting is counterfeiting is counterfeiting is counterfeiting. If that is the intent, that is the intent. You can pass a stack of bills on get a motorcycle or you can buy a soda and a moonpie at a convenience store. It does not matter what you buy (which is how two juvies were caught).

The crime was committed washing the paper and printing another denomination long before the purchase of the bike.

Chances are the bike is long gone to a chop shop and not even recognizable anymore. Black market goods - no one cares of the source, VIN's, serial numbers, SSN's engraved.

Even thus, the seller of the bike perhaps turned over the title to the buyer (counterfeiter) who then sold it to someone else (legit or not) for some real bills.

I look for who ever is doing this to lay low for a while or start hitting the nearby states. Knowing that he may have gotten away with it and knowing that the heat is on for a hundred dollar bill, I would not at all be surprised to see bogus 20's hit the streets.

A merchant handles twenties with great regularity and very doubtful they are checked routinely by store clerks.

I have someone else coming by in about an hour or so to look at another kayak. I have already informed him not to bring any hundred dollar bills. He knew why. He lives about an hour from me and has seen the news.

[Raider]

The crime was committed washing the paper and printing another denomination long before the purchase of the bike.

Yeah, but nobody knows if the buyers are the actual counterfeiters, they could be buying the counterfeit cash, did you think of that?

It's hard to pass off 100 dollar bills without scrutiny, and the last place you want to pass them is at a bank, Government office, Store or place of business, where cameras are usually installed..... So the crook is choosing unsuspecting citizens where the risk of getting caught is much lower, and the value of merchandise is greater.

As I pointed out earlier, his mistake is buying merchandise that can be traced and found, He would of been better off buying something like a Coin collection or Jewelry, items that have the lowest chance of recovery.

Chances are the bike is long gone to a chop shop and not even recognizable anymore. Black market goods - no one cares of the source, VIN's, serial numbers, SSN's engraved.

So in your opinion, the crook spent days bleaching out the money, Printing it, Finding your unsuspecting friend with the bike, Exposing his appearance to the seller, just so he could get the keys and take the bike to a chop shop to sell it for parts?... Your kidding right?

If the chop shop was the objective, It would of been stolen outright for sure, It takes less than a minute to steal a Motorcycle, and without a trace of evidence.

The good news is; Your friend stands a very good chance of recovery, since law enforcement is very aggressive in tracking down counterfeiters, Find the bike and you find the counterfeiter.

That happened to me one time.

Someone thought it would be "funny" to write a holdup note on the back of a withdrawal slip and place it back into the stack at the desk. I was taking out something like $50, and the teller emptied her drawer and pushed all of the money toward me. I looked at her like she was nuts and she said, "That's what you want, isn't it?" and showed me the back of the slip. I put my hands on the counter where they could be seen and said, "No, I didn't know that was there, and I'm not going to move" and waited for the police to arrive to sort it all out.

Wow, I'll be looking on the back of my deposit and withdrawal slips from now on.... My compliments to you for handling it in the way you did.

[Compassion]

Last I checked all 100 dollar bills in circulation were counterfeit. The constitution clearly states all legal tender must be connected to physical gold and silver.

The central banks who run the printing presses don't even tell Congress how much they are printing.

We all must face the facts: we have been scammed into a monopoly money game and the privately owned Fed is the bank.


It must have cost far more for these schemers to print and bleach the paper than it does for the privately owned Federal Reserve to print a 100 dollar piece of paper out of thin air!

or how about when a bank makes a 10 million dollar loan on a 1 million dollar balance and magically 9 million has been added to the money supply?

What is cheaper?

The 2 cents it takes to print the $100 bill OR the click of a button fractionally lending out money into existence?


How about that for a Gallup poll.





and then there is the whole usury thing that most ancient cultures agree to be a crime against humanity and detrimental to the soul.

[JuniperPark]

Doc Com: you do realize that it's much MORE common and easy to create counterfeit checks, right??

I saw the Dateline show. They turn $5 to $100, not $1 bills. I forgot the reason, I think the watermark looks more like the $100.

Anyway... Steve Wozniac's Executive Assistant / Goddaughter came to visit me a couple of months ago (met them at Domainfest back in January). Like Woz, she carries SHEETs of $2 bills, and leaves them as tips. They look fake, and you can even see the perforated tear marks (like on cheap business laser business cards), but they are real. She left some at my local hangouts, too funny. Story of Woz getting stopped by Secret Service over this:
http://woz.org/letters/general/78.html

[Compassion]

Doc Com: you do realize that it's much MORE common and easy to create counterfeit checks, right??

I saw the Dateline show. They turn $5 to $100, not $1 bills. I forgot the reason, I think the watermark looks more like the $100.

Anyway... Steve Wozniac's Executive Assistant / Goddaughter came to visit me a couple of months ago (met them at Domainfest back in January). Like Woz, she carries SHEETs of $2 bills, and leaves them as tips. They look fake, and you can even see the perforated tear marks (like on cheap business laser business cards), but they are real. She left some at my local hangouts, too funny. Story of Woz getting stopped by Secret Service over this:
http://woz.org/letters/general/78.html

Of course they look fake, they have been since 1913. It's not a piece of gold or silver representing what it is worth - it is a piece of paper representing how much central banks decide it to be worth with some taps on a keyboard.



What's a 64 Kennedy silver 50 cent piece worth now? $9?

[Gerry]

Doc Com: you do realize that it's much MORE common and easy to create counterfeit checks, right??

I saw the Dateline show. They turn $5 to $100, not $1 bills. I forgot the reason, I think the watermark looks more like the $100.

Yes, that was the dateline show. I believe that counterfeiter was aware of a security band embedded into the paper.

Our counterfeiters are too cheap to spend five bucks. Already been shown to be one dollar bills which (I think) have not been redesigned and printed.

The guy brought twenties to me. He was well aware of all the funny money here in the Carolinas.

No takie fake checkie or good checkie.


I rarely, rarely handle cash. Most of all my transactions are all electronic, including paying bills. Had a very large sum come in today via bank wire from Baton Rouge.

I truly can not recall the last time I carried more cash than a $20 or so and the same goes for a checkbook. I carry an AmEx card that we pay off every month and a Visa for places that don't take AmEx. If there is a new 1, 5, or 10 bill I am not sure I have even seen them.

We do not carry balances. AmEx does offer a card that will allow a balance carry over but I refuse to have it. I even asked the Visa issuer to permit about 1/10th the amount we qualify for. They hate me. I have a fixed rate card at 5.9% I know they wish I would default so they could raise it.

[HarveyJ]

Ha! You all laugh at our monopoly money when you get it on holidays. Who's laughing now?!

Plastic currency can't be bleached
http://www.outback-australia-travel-...rrency-200.jpg