Apparently more and more people are using phony money.

That is not the kind of phony money that appears in that Denny commercial.  No, we are talking about ‘real’ counterfeit money.  It is not surprising that in economic hard times, more people are resorting to using fake money.

Counterfeiting arrests in the USA jumped 28% in 2008 over 2007 — the highest number since 2004, according to the US Secret Service, a division of the Homeland Security Department that safeguards the nation’s currency. Counterfeiters passed $64.4 million in fake cash into the economy, a 5% increase over 2007 and also a five-year high, according to Special Agent Darrin Blackford, spokesman for the agency.

It’s not just the criminal element, but we’re also seeing more students that maybe use a counterfeit $20 bill to buy pizza or someone trying to do it to purchase gas to get to work,” says Brian Marr, Secret Service special agent. Reports of fake bills spiked this year when gas prices hit record highs.

CosmoLoan has some interesting information about counterfeit money.

1. More people are faking it
2. Coin Clipping used to be prevalent
3. Death to all counterfeiters was the rule less than 400 years ago
4. The US Secret Service was originally founded to suppress the major counterfeit currency racket going on in 1865
5. Attacking countries with their own fake money has been used as a means of warfare
6. Catch Me if You Can is the story of the world’s greatest check counterfeiter, Frank Abagnale.
7. Superdollar or Note Family – C14342 has been able to fool many experts who were unable to tell it apart from legitimate currency.  It is believed that 1 out of every 10 000 bills in circulation in the US is a Superdollar.
8. You must accept counterfeit money and then turn it in without reimbursement
9. In Canada today many businesses still refuse 50 dollar and 100 dollar bills following a huge counterfeiting operation in 2001.
10. Poor quality Ink-jet printed money represented 60% of the counterfeit currency collected.

The Bank of Canada takes counterfeiting very seriously and responds by a number of measures to help in Counterfeiting prevention.

• researching and developing new security features that are difficult to copy and easy to use;
• working with law enforcement to monitor and respond to counterfeiting activity; and
• showing Canadians, especially those who handle cash regularly, how to verify bank notes to make sure they’re genuine

They even now have an exhibit in their Currency Museum that showcases the history of phony cash.  The exhibit opened Jan. 6 and is called The Good, The Bad, and The Fake.

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