The redesigned $5 bill will begin circulating today. The bill is designed to foil counterfeiters who have taken to bleaching the $5 bill to remove the ink and then printing a $100 bill on top of it. One prominent feature of the new $5 bill is the use of purple ink. For more info on the redesigned bill visit the Department of the Treasury's page that lists all of the security features.
Showing posts with label counterfeit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label counterfeit. Show all posts
Thursday, March 13, 2008
NEW $5 BILL MAKES DEBUT
The redesigned $5 bill will begin circulating today. The bill is designed to foil counterfeiters who have taken to bleaching the $5 bill to remove the ink and then printing a $100 bill on top of it. One prominent feature of the new $5 bill is the use of purple ink. For more info on the redesigned bill visit the Department of the Treasury's page that lists all of the security features.
Monday, August 27, 2007
$100 BILL GETTING MAKEOVER
Counterfeiting is a huge problem for the United States. It isn't just criminals who do it, but foreign governments have been suspected of producing counterfeit U.S. currency, as well. After reading the story below, check out this one about North Korea counterfeiting U.S. $100 bills.
AP story from MSNBC.com:
After six decades in which the venerable greenback never changed its look, the U.S. currency has undergone a slew of makeovers. The most amazing is yet to come.
A new security thread has been approved for the $100 bill, The Associated Press has learned, and the change will cause double-takes.
The new look is part of an effort to thwart counterfeiters who are armed with ever-more sophisticated computers, scanners and color copiers. The C-note, with features the likeness of Benjamin Franklin, is the most frequent target of counterfeiters operating outside the United States.
The operation of the new security thread looks like something straight out of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This magic, however, relies on innovations produced from decades of development.
It combines micro-printing with tiny lenses _ 650,000 for a single $100 bill. The lenses magnify the micro-printing in a truly remarkable way.
Move the bill side to side and the image appears to move up and down. Move the bill up and down and the image appears to move from side to side.
"It is a really complex optical structure on a microscopic scale. It makes for a very compelling high security device," said Douglas Crane, a vice president at Crane & Co. The Dalton, Mass-based company has a $46 million contract to produce the new security threads.
Larry Felix, director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, confirmed details about the security thread in an AP interview.
The redesign of the $100 is about one-third of the way complete. The bill is expected to go into circulation late next year.
The $100 bill represents more than 70 percent of the $776 billion in currency in circulation, two-thirds of which is held overseas.
"Counterfeiting is becoming highly organized and highly efficient," Felix said. He said some clandestine printing plants in Latin America and Eastern Europe have been caught counterfeiting not only the U.S. currency but other countries' notes.
The government says $118.1 million in counterfeit U.S. currency was detected in 2006, an increase of 3.8 percent from 2005.
AP story from MSNBC.com:
After six decades in which the venerable greenback never changed its look, the U.S. currency has undergone a slew of makeovers. The most amazing is yet to come.
A new security thread has been approved for the $100 bill, The Associated Press has learned, and the change will cause double-takes.
The new look is part of an effort to thwart counterfeiters who are armed with ever-more sophisticated computers, scanners and color copiers. The C-note, with features the likeness of Benjamin Franklin, is the most frequent target of counterfeiters operating outside the United States.
The operation of the new security thread looks like something straight out of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This magic, however, relies on innovations produced from decades of development.
It combines micro-printing with tiny lenses _ 650,000 for a single $100 bill. The lenses magnify the micro-printing in a truly remarkable way.
Move the bill side to side and the image appears to move up and down. Move the bill up and down and the image appears to move from side to side.
"It is a really complex optical structure on a microscopic scale. It makes for a very compelling high security device," said Douglas Crane, a vice president at Crane & Co. The Dalton, Mass-based company has a $46 million contract to produce the new security threads.
Larry Felix, director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, confirmed details about the security thread in an AP interview.
The redesign of the $100 is about one-third of the way complete. The bill is expected to go into circulation late next year.
The $100 bill represents more than 70 percent of the $776 billion in currency in circulation, two-thirds of which is held overseas.
"Counterfeiting is becoming highly organized and highly efficient," Felix said. He said some clandestine printing plants in Latin America and Eastern Europe have been caught counterfeiting not only the U.S. currency but other countries' notes.
The government says $118.1 million in counterfeit U.S. currency was detected in 2006, an increase of 3.8 percent from 2005.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
NIKE WINS PITTANCE IN CHINESE COUNTERFEIT LAWSUIT
Think this is an isolated case of counterfeiting? Google "counterfeit Nike" and check out the results, or check out this link to an official Chinese customs site that details efforts to catch counterfeiters. The picture below is of 55,000 counterfeit goods confiscated in Tianjin, China.
From USA Today:
Nike has won lawsuits against two Chinese shoemakers and the local operations of a French supermarket chain over alleged illegal copying of its Air Jordan logo, a court official said Tuesday.
The Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate Court awarded Nike, the world's largest sports apparel company, a total of 350,000 yuan ($46,100) in damages from Jinjiang Longzhibu Shoe Co., Jinjiang Kangwei Shoe Co. and retailer Auchan, the official Xinhua News Agency and other reports said.
The case was the latest victory for foreign companies seeking protection from rampant theft of copyrights and other intellectual property in China. Regardless of laws against commercial piracy, counterfeit copies of most products can be easily found in Chinese stores and markets.
Nike said its employees found shoes made by the companies being sold for about 100 yuan ($13) a pair in outlets operated by the Auchan chain in Shanghai and the nearby city of Ningbo. Authentic Air Jordans sell for many times that amount.
From USA Today:
Nike has won lawsuits against two Chinese shoemakers and the local operations of a French supermarket chain over alleged illegal copying of its Air Jordan logo, a court official said Tuesday.
The Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate Court awarded Nike, the world's largest sports apparel company, a total of 350,000 yuan ($46,100) in damages from Jinjiang Longzhibu Shoe Co., Jinjiang Kangwei Shoe Co. and retailer Auchan, the official Xinhua News Agency and other reports said.
The case was the latest victory for foreign companies seeking protection from rampant theft of copyrights and other intellectual property in China. Regardless of laws against commercial piracy, counterfeit copies of most products can be easily found in Chinese stores and markets.
Nike said its employees found shoes made by the companies being sold for about 100 yuan ($13) a pair in outlets operated by the Auchan chain in Shanghai and the nearby city of Ningbo. Authentic Air Jordans sell for many times that amount.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
FAKE DIABETES TEST STRIPS TRACED TO CHINA
From the International Herald Tribune:
A global manhunt begun by Johnson & Johnson has traced to China counterfeit versions of an at-home diabetes test used by 10 million Americans to take sensitive measurements of blood sugar levels.
Potentially dangerous copies of the OneTouch Test Strip sold by Johnson & Johnson's LifeScan unit surfaced in U.S. and Canadian pharmacies last year, according to federal court documents unsealed in June but only recently discovered by Bloomberg News.
Court filings disclose, for the first time, that China is the source of about one million phony test strips, which have turned up in at least 35 states and in Canada, Greece, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Fake medicines are a $32 billion global business, said the World Health Organization, and the Food and Drug agency said it had run 54 counterfeit investigations in 2006, almost twice as many as in the year before.
Records seized from the importers show the counterfeit strips were bought from Henry Fu and his company, Halson Pharmaceutical, which, according to its Internet site, is based in Shanghai.
Halson's Web site says that the company distributes and manufactures medical supplies like syringes, and is run by Fu, who, according to a court order, is also known as Su Zhi Yong. Fu was arrested by the Chinese authorities and remains in prison in China, awaiting resolution of his case in the People's Court of Shanghai.
A global manhunt begun by Johnson & Johnson has traced to China counterfeit versions of an at-home diabetes test used by 10 million Americans to take sensitive measurements of blood sugar levels.
Potentially dangerous copies of the OneTouch Test Strip sold by Johnson & Johnson's LifeScan unit surfaced in U.S. and Canadian pharmacies last year, according to federal court documents unsealed in June but only recently discovered by Bloomberg News.
Court filings disclose, for the first time, that China is the source of about one million phony test strips, which have turned up in at least 35 states and in Canada, Greece, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Fake medicines are a $32 billion global business, said the World Health Organization, and the Food and Drug agency said it had run 54 counterfeit investigations in 2006, almost twice as many as in the year before.
Records seized from the importers show the counterfeit strips were bought from Henry Fu and his company, Halson Pharmaceutical, which, according to its Internet site, is based in Shanghai.
Halson's Web site says that the company distributes and manufactures medical supplies like syringes, and is run by Fu, who, according to a court order, is also known as Su Zhi Yong. Fu was arrested by the Chinese authorities and remains in prison in China, awaiting resolution of his case in the People's Court of Shanghai.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
NORTH KOREA ISSUING COUNTERFEIT U.S. CURRENCY
Bloomberg is reporting today that one of the problems holding up the six-party talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons program is the accusation that the North Korean government is printing counterfeit U.S. $100 bills. The United States has known of the fake $100 bills which are often called "supernotes" since 1989 and has confiscated approximately $50 million of the counterfeit bills. A Korean newspaper/website doing research on a story about the supernotes was able to obtain one, which is pictured below. The bills can be purchased for $70 each and are very difficult to detect. The United States has frozen North Korean assets held in at least one bank due to concerns that the bank is helping to launder money for the North Korean government. Many have speculated since 1989 that the United States will issue new and different $100 bills and might require that all old $100 bills be exchanged and destroyed, rendering the counterfeits worthless.
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