In recent weeks, counterfeit dollar bills have been appearing more often all around North America, from Texas and Hawaii to Canada.
There are reports of counterfeit currency appearing in Canada, Hawaii, and Texas, which suggests that fiat counterfeiting is on the rise.
In recent weeks, counterfeit dollar bills have been appearing more often all around North America, from Texas and Hawaii to Canada. A report on May 8 disclosed that police in Brownsville, Texas, arrested a man. There were allegations against him for manufacturing fake US currency.
A 45-year-old person faced charges with seven counts of forgery. The arrest followed many reports from local businesses. These companies disclosed incidents of people using fake bills. The business included restaurants, gas stations, hotels, and grocery stores.
It appears that fake banknotes are circulating in broader areas and have not only spread to one place.
Earlier this month, there were claims from Ohio that fake money was being used to enter a baseball field.
Police in Hawaii have also reported seeing someone change small denomination US currencies into fake $100 bills.
It came to light that $1 bills were being used by counterfeiters. They bleached these bills’ ink and then printed something that looked like $100 banknotes over them. Local police provided this information.
They would fabricate the fake $100 note, then buy something small to get actual cash as change.
In Ontario, Canada, earlier this year, there were reports of fake $100 notes in circulation. Charlottetown, Canada, police released a warning on May 12. The concern was fake $100 bills in the US, and these bills served as props in movies. They were being used in local businesses.
The incident coincides with a TikTok video that shows a former Trump boasting about giving out “fake Hollywood money.”. He gave these bills to homeless people. The video went viral and got a lot of attention.
The US Secret Service confiscated over $22 million worth of counterfeit currency in 2023. Calling it a return, ABC highlighted a rise in counterfeiting incidents in March.
But the issue of counterfeit money is not exclusive to North America.
According to a May 12 article by Insider Politic, a citizen of Barcelona received an arrest for printing fake 20 and 50-euro notes at home. German investigators declared in April that they had seized over $103 million worth of fake dollar bills. They appeared to be counterfeiting operations involving large quantities of fictitious money in Germany and Barcelona.
Fiat Takes Another Hit?
Another blow to traditional paper money comes from recent instances of fake money. Over the past year, there has been more attention given to these currencies.
Commentators blame central bank policy, particularly those in the crypto sector. They claim inflation and money printing are the main issues.
On May 1, Elon Musk compared the US central bank to Monopoly. He drew attention to parallels between the production of money and the bank’s ongoing solvency. Musk’s analogy sparked debate on the function and methods of the central bank.
Bitcoin and other crypto assets are difficult to counterfeit, in comparison to conventional currencies. This is because they run on an unchangeable blockchain. Consensus systems based on proof of work also strengthen their security.
Despite this, scams still occur in the crypto world, and some scammers attempt to sell testnet BTC which has no real value. They emphasize the continuous problems with fraudulent activity by tricking users into believing they purchased actual Bitcoin.
Fake tokens with similar or identical tickers serve the same purpose in other schemes. These tokens are falsely claimed to be part of genuine enterprises. As an example, a $290,000 exploit on Binance’s launch pool in March used a fake Ethena Labs token.
