Printers Take All of the Skill Out of Counterfeiting

John_Keck

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 3, 2010
Messages
379
Today’s counterfeiters have it easy. Back in the day you had to be crafty and make, design them yourself. Now-a-days punk kids just print them off.

"There really is no craftsmanship or workmanship in this anymore," Special Agent Scott Vogel, a 20-year veteran, told the Detroit Free Press. "If you're able to put a piece of paper in a copy machine and push a button, that's pretty much all it takes."
 
Well it could be that technology just caught up.. 1995 you had some pretty crappy resolution printers, 2010, well we got a little better. Need to keep up with the technology, or it will put you out of business.... hmmm where else have we heard that.
 
How do they get around the fact that printer paper feels nothing like what money is made out of? Or are they just relying on someone not paying any attention?
 
Yeah, but given the reliability of printers and the cost of ink you're probably still losing money by printing it out.
 
eh, so they say. I doubt an average joe could make anything that feels like money. but then I remember, the department of printing & engraving sells like sheets of dollar bills. you could buy a bunch, bleach them and....

of course there is the low-tech solution, get a dollar bill, tear off the corners of a bunch of hundreds, and attach. has fooled tons of people.
 
New technology --> Better printers --> Cuts down on sneaky talented skillful serious counterfeiters.

Nice.
 
I always thought scanners were programmed not to scan money. I never tried it so I dont know...
 
I always thought scanners were programmed not to scan money. I never tried it so I dont know...

IIRC there is a small recognized image that looks like three dots or something that when picked up by scanners, copiers, and even photoshop will trigger an error and say that it can't be printed.
 
What is the difference between the Fed (Ben Bernake) printing worthless money or Joe Copier doing it?

Joe copier goes to federal prison, Ben gets voted person of the year in 2009 and continues to impress the blue bloods while Rome burns. With QE II just underway look out folks... the dollar won't be worth the paper it is printed on very soon.
 
FWIW, the self checkouts at most stores accept a "wide" array of counterfeit bills lol.
 
I'd say the biggest problem is the paper, it's pretty easy to tell real money from fake money if they just used copy paper.
 
Printers that can print correctly on rag paper are more expensive than cheap home printers, so it is a zero sum equation once you get done buying all the necessary pieces. Also any decent denomination have the strips in them. As to printing dollar bills digitally any software before adove CS does not have the checks in it. I remember the stories going around when it was released.
 
No it isn't. His "point" shows a lack of understanding about national economics and mixes some overzealous tin hat-ery in too.

Overzealous? What do you call printing 4,000,000,000,000 dollars out of thin air in the next fiscal term? History, economics and common sense sets off alarms here. If that is too zealous for you... Come back to this thread in a year or two and show me I was wrong... I will gladly accept it.
 
Overzealous? What do you call printing 4,000,000,000,000 dollars out of thin air in the next fiscal term? ....

Dude, get over it - we don't have a gold standard currency anymore this shit happens from time to time when it's needed and the fed will buy back currency when that is needed. I'm not saying they're 100% right or infallible, but it's not like they're doing some wacky out of left field move here.

All of our money is just thin air and trust.
 
Thin air and trust... Yep you're right I'm sorry to have troubled you.
don' listen to those fools..they're either kids fresh from school and ignorant about economics and history or bought and sold, perfectly content with ethereal money.
 
I'm not arguing that printing money doesn't lead to inflation, it's just the way in which you brought your political agenda into this thread.

What is the difference between the Fed (Ben Bernake) printing worthless money or Joe Copier doing it?

I stand by my comment about not having a gold standard currency (note that I'm neither advocating nor rejecting it, just stating a factual observation) and if you feel that makes me ignorant then whatever. I know enough about economics to know it doesn't pay to argue over some stupid post on the internet.

unsubbed.
 
eh, maybe I am dumb but I don't really understand the principle of borrowing money so you can buy your debt back....
 
Bleach a 1 dollar bill, then print directly to that... whoops there goes that skill needed also

Where do you go to spend $100 bills where they don't check water marks, security threads, etc? If I had an employee who failed to check a single bill, of this denomination, I'd warn them once, then fire them.

You can't print these things on $1 bills.
 
lots of stores with $20 and above will use the Ph markers to check the bills....
 
Where do you go to spend $100 bills where they don't check water marks, security threads, etc? If I had an employee who failed to check a single bill, of this denomination, I'd warn them once, then fire them.

You can't print these things on $1 bills.

Well I guess $20 and below not many are going to check.
 
My damned HP printers paper feed brackets wont go down to the size of a dollar bill...only "legal". The scanner feed wont either. I bought it last year, so none of this can be true.
 
so you use double sided tape to stick the blanks onto a sheet or normal paper, print one side, then flip and reattach them to print the other. *rolls eyes*

Was that seriously the best you could do?
 
so you use double sided tape to stick the blanks onto a sheet or normal paper, print one side, then flip and reattach them to print the other. *rolls eyes*

Was that seriously the best you could do?

Dont be sillly. It says you can't put tape or paperclips into the scanner feed. HP is obviously a government front trying to stop normal people doing this kind of thing. Need to find a scanner that will take tape...
 
I believe all color printers are required to imprint paper with invisible codes that cannot be seen by the naked eye. They identify the printer used.
 
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"In 2009 the Secret Service removed $182 million in counterfeit bills from circulation. That was more than twice the $79 million discovered in the previous year."

That's a lot of people failing to differentiate between computer paper and real money ...
 
It is ridiculously easy to print bills that would fool 99% of people out there. Modern scanners and color laser printers make it easy. (I'm in the document imaging business)
Here is a FUN Thing, that is totally harmless.
Copy a $20, print it on a color printer. A with a descent copy and descent printer you will get a copy that look like an original without close scrutiny. Wrinkle it a bit to make it more realistic. Leave the back side blank and write a funny note on back like "Obama Bucks"
Leave it on the floor or something and watch the fun. :)
 
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