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Secret Service Hunts Counterfeit Cash From Peru

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May 20, 2009 7:15 pm US/Eastern

Secret Service Hunts Counterfeit Cash From Peru

MIAMI (CBS4) ― While they may have looked like the "real" thing, the stacks of crisp, new $100 bills displayed to CBS4 News by the U.S. Secret Service are anything but – they were the latest high tech counterfeit bills seized in South Florida.

Special Agent In-Charge Michael Fithin pointed out several discrepancies in the phony bills to CBS4 Consumer Investigator Al Sunshine, including one bill where the counterfeiters "glued the watermark on".

During tough economic times, the U.S. Secret Service said international counterfeiters, like everyone else, are working a lot harder to make money. To that end, seizures of counterfeit bills in South Florida are way up over last year.

"In the Miami Office, we were averaging about 40 thousand a week in 08. And we've seen that increase to $80 to $100 thousand weekly," said Fithin who heads up the Secret Service operations in Miami.

It turns out the latest high tech counterfeits coming out of Peru are pretty good. Several weeks ago, more than $8.4 million in counterfeit cash was seized in an emerging capital for South American counterfeiters: Lima, Peru. It came from a sophisticated, high tech print shop, featuring highly detailed engraved plates like the real thing.

Federal Investigators said the South American counterfeiters target large markets like New York, Los Angeles and South Florida for U.S. distribution.

"This is a high quality counterfeit; they've spent some time in perfecting the artwork. The only exception is that the fibers that are contained in this note do not fluoresce like they would in a genuine us currency," said Fithin.

Because they are so good, Fithin said it's virtually impossible to detect that they are counterfeit bills just by looking at them.

"Can most people even tell it's a bogus bill?" asked Sunshine.

"It would be difficult to discover this," replied Fithin, "I know they're still around South Florida."

The U.S. Secret Service says most of the new counterfeit Peruvian notes are printed as $100 bills. That's why most businesses around South Florida now refuse to accept anything bigger than a $50 dollar bill. Fithin says if you use smaller currency, you have a better chance of avoiding one of the latest counterfeits. 

Click Here for more information on How To Spot Counterfeit Cash.

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