An underground counterfeiting operation appears to continue with $100 'supernote' bills popping up worldwide, while questions remain about possible North Korean ties to the phony bills.

The 'supernote' appears to be made from the same cotton and linen mix that distinguishes U.S. currency from other currency. It even has watermarks visible from the other side of the bill, colored microfibers woven into the substrate of the banknote and an embedded strip, barely visible, that reads USA 100 and glows red under ultraviolet light.

The secret operation, stumping officials worldwide, could be the "most sophisticated counterfeiting operation in the world," former congressman James Kolbe told McClatchy Newspapers.

"We are not certain as to how this is being done or how it's happening," Kolbe said.

The supernotes could be made by someone who has access to government printing equipment, said Thomas Ferguson, former director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Lawmakers accused North Korean leaders of involvement in the counterfeiting ring but the origin is questionable. Other experts suspect Iran and criminal gangs in Russia or China.

President Bush claimed two years ago "we are aggressively saying to the North Koreans ... don't counterfeit our money."

But the Bush administration no longer publicly accuses North Korea of being behind the supernotes.

In the late 1990s, North Korean diplomats were caught passing supernotes. In August 2005, the Secret Service found Chinese crime gangs smuggling some of the bills into New Jersey and Los Angeles.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,322587,00.html

I'm going to hedge that making these "supernotes" is not as hard as couterfiting was just a few years ago. And this issue will probably get bigger before and if it is resolved.

My bet is on the North Koreas using criminal Chinese help. The NK government needs revenue, the Chinese government not so much....

apparently China counterfeits a version of the iPhone that is better than what Apple sells. They are an obvious place to look, because they make some good counterfeit goods, why not dollars too.

I know Hezzbollah has been seen with these bills and give them to poor lebanese they are trying to buy political support from. and of course Iran is an obvious target here.

Whoever is behind it, its an ACT OF WAR, period. and this is an issue that will only get worse with Technological advances.

I am just glad they aren't on to me yet.

BTW, the Chinese counterfeit EVERYTHING including cars.

For years the biggest "safeguard" to counterfitting was the cotton/linen composite "paper" and the embedded "security devices"...

You couldnt duplicate those wiith a scannner and paper you buy at Office Depot...

Now if a BE&P (Bureau of Engraving & Printing) employee .. or maybe a vendor/government contractor....diverted a large quantity of the paper to some foreign power.. thats a different story..

But of course, those with access to the material in the amounts necesary to knock off $50 million + are limited in number..

They are just as worthless as the FRNs.

By some stroke of genius, the equipment to print US Currency was sold to the Shah of Iran [2]. For years after the Iranian revolution, Iran would print $20 notes, hence the recent re-design of the currency.