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ansible

(1,718 posts)
Tue Jan 28, 2020, 11:56 PM Jan 2020

Almost $1 million in counterfeit seized by customs -- all in single-dollar bills

Source: usatoday

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials report seizing $900,000 in counterfeit cash – all of it in singles. The dollar bills were discovered in December at the International Falls Port of Entry in Minnesota in a rail shipment originating from China, per a Saturday statement from CBP. An investigation found 45 cartons filled with singles, which were confirmed to be fake by the Secret Service.

“CBP officers strive every day to protect the United States from a variety of threats,” said Jason Schmelz, a CBP port director, in a statement. “Those threats don’t always come in the form of terrorists or narcotics, but also in the form of counterfeit currency and other goods that have the potential to harm the economy of the United States."

The counterfeit money was seized and will be sent to the Secret Service. Single-dollar bills, according to the Federal Reserve, have stayed the same since 1963 because the "note is infrequently counterfeited." There is also a provision in the annual Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act that prohibits the bill's redesign.

"Thanks to the dedication of our officers and our partnership with the Secret Service, we were able to keep this currency from entering into circulation," Schmelz said.




Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/01/28/900000-counterfeit-seized-customs-all-one-dollar-bills/4598937002/

27 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Almost $1 million in counterfeit seized by customs -- all in single-dollar bills (Original Post) ansible Jan 2020 OP
Sometimes tax dollars do some good! LakeArenal Jan 2020 #1
Yep, good catch because who checks $1 bills for being counterfeit? brush Jan 2020 #18
Interesting, use them in coin changers and take the quarters and turn them into currency? marble falls Jan 2020 #2
Would coin changer accept it as a real dollar bill? LisaL Jan 2020 #3
Yes, they work. I tried it last week. 3Hotdogs Jan 2020 #4
That knocking on your door is Treasury and Secret Service agents. I've told you before: ... marble falls Jan 2020 #5
Not to worry. They's hidden in my mattress, never to be found. 3Hotdogs Jan 2020 #8
We've dating out of the same crowd. Even I wouldn't touch our mattresses. marble falls Jan 2020 #22
Who knows? Maybe. What's your thought on one dollar bills? marble falls Jan 2020 #6
Tough and nightmarishly slow way to get rich. paleotn Jan 2020 #26
Back when video game arcades became popular... wysimdnwyg Jan 2020 #21
I wonder what the cost of printing all those bills lapfog_1 Jan 2020 #7
Too bad, when the gub'mint tried to introduce dollar coins, they chose the shape and weight of the 3Hotdogs Jan 2020 #9
The Sacajawea "gold" $1 coins were beautiful. OneBro Jan 2020 #12
Whelp, as the post office says, "Each to his zone." 3Hotdogs Jan 2020 #13
Similar dimensions (6.15 X 2.62) on 100# White Linen Cover stock would be about greyl Jan 2020 #16
They look fine to me. I would've been fooled by 'em. NBachers Jan 2020 #10
$1 bills are so 1980s. OneBro Jan 2020 #11
Strippers are going to be sooooo pissed. truthisfreedom Jan 2020 #14
Nothing new, there is a ton of counterfeit US currency, coins being sold on ebay, all from china yaesu Jan 2020 #15
Made me look. All I see is commemorative money & trump money. oldsoftie Jan 2020 #19
the plates are still out there. nt TeamPooka Jan 2020 #17
Mister 880 Javaman Jan 2020 #20
Those are dated 2006 bigworld Jan 2020 #23
Maybe they are being used to buy scratch tickets? Generic Other Jan 2020 #24
Oh my ck4829 Jan 2020 #25
That's the genius of it Polybius Feb 2020 #27

marble falls

(56,359 posts)
5. That knocking on your door is Treasury and Secret Service agents. I've told you before: ...
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 12:27 AM
Jan 2020

ALWAYS plead the fifth and ask for your damn lawyer!!!!

But first wipe that green ink of'n your hands!!!

wysimdnwyg

(2,229 posts)
21. Back when video game arcades became popular...
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 09:50 AM
Jan 2020

Around the time I was in college, video games were big. Not the games of today, where everyone plays on their own devices, but stand-up, arcade style games. We had coin changers there, and color copy machines were still new enough that they were somewhat hard to find. We would frequently hear the technicians complain about the copied dollar bills that the machines accepted. Clearly, at that time (some 30+ years ago), poor quality fakes were adequate enough to fool coin changers. Today, though, I doubt even higher quality fake bills would work. That said, singles do not have all of the updated security features found in higher denomination bills, so perhaps they have been able to duplicate them well enough.

I'm guessing, though, that this was a trial run to see how well their base materials (ink, paper, etc.) are at fooling the system. If they had gotten these through, they're ready to move on to bigger bills with the added security that is more difficult to beat.

lapfog_1

(29,166 posts)
7. I wonder what the cost of printing all those bills
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 12:28 AM
Jan 2020

was... and how real they looked.

Almost a lock they didn't feel like real bills.

3Hotdogs

(12,210 posts)
9. Too bad, when the gub'mint tried to introduce dollar coins, they chose the shape and weight of the
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 12:37 AM
Jan 2020

quarter. No one wanted it.

Have you ever held a Brti 1 pound coin? Its feel projects substance. A dollar coin like that would have been accepted.

OneBro

(1,159 posts)
12. The Sacajawea "gold" $1 coins were beautiful.
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 12:53 AM
Jan 2020

And kids loved getting a stack of them as birthday presents.

3Hotdogs

(12,210 posts)
13. Whelp, as the post office says, "Each to his zone."
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 12:56 AM
Jan 2020

When in the local bank, I ask for the old Ike dollar coins. I give 'em to the grand kids for chores around the house.

greyl

(22,990 posts)
16. Similar dimensions (6.15 X 2.62) on 100# White Linen Cover stock would be about
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 01:45 AM
Jan 2020

$32,000 including UPS Ground shipping. Wonder how obvious or clever the paper they used was.

OneBro

(1,159 posts)
11. $1 bills are so 1980s.
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 12:51 AM
Jan 2020

Canada, Europe, Australia have all gone to coins for their $1 equivalents, but for some reason we refuse to replace our $1 paper bill with a more efficient, longer-lived coin, just as we continue to mint utterly useless one cent coins . . . in 2020. Sigh.

Anyway, as for the seized $1 bills, I suspect this lot was intended to be discovered while the pallets of fake $50s and $100s were smuggled in in plain sight. That, or maybe I saw that happen in a movie once. 🤔

yaesu

(8,020 posts)
15. Nothing new, there is a ton of counterfeit US currency, coins being sold on ebay, all from china
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 01:29 AM
Jan 2020

I've reported so much & ebay is like, who cares, we are making money off it.

Javaman

(62,442 posts)
20. Mister 880
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 09:44 AM
Jan 2020
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_880

Mister 880 is a 1950 American comedy film about an amateurish counterfeiter who counterfeits only one dollar bills, and manages to elude the Secret Service for 10 years. It was directed by Edmund Goulding, and stars Burt Lancaster, Dorothy McGuire, Edmund Gwenn, and Millard Mitchell. The film is based on the true story of Emerich Juettner, known by the alias Edward Mueller, an elderly man who counterfeited just enough money to survive, was careful where and when he spent his fake dollar bills, and was therefore able to elude authorities for ten years, despite the poor quality of his fakes, and despite growing interest in his case.[3]

The film was based on an article by St. Clair McKelway that was first published in The New Yorker and later collected in McKelway's book True Tales from the Annals of Crime & Rascality.

Edmund Gwenn, who played "Skipper" Miller (only a supporting role in the film), won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance.

In real life, Juettner was caught and arrested in 1948, and served four months in prison.[3] Juettner made more money from the release of Mister 880 than he had made in his entire counterfeiting career.[3]

bigworld

(1,807 posts)
23. Those are dated 2006
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 12:33 PM
Jan 2020

How long have they been printing these things?!

That serial number looks wonky, but I'd love to see a higher res photo.

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