The story of the fake super dollars that deceived the world for two decades

They had the same high-tech color change ink than real American dollars. They were also printed on paper with exactly the same fiber composition as the originals: three-quarters of American cotton and one-quarter of linen, a BBC note reported.

The recorded images were finer than those produced by the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Nail little variation, then reported The New York Times, which revealed that they were not original.

The United States was very alarmed because the counterfeits were going through the banks not detectedbecause no one could tell the difference.

These “super dollars” circulated around the world in the 1990s and 2000s.

During these years, The United States decided to change the design of the US $ 100 banknotes twice, But the counterfeiters have managed to adapt.

Appears in Denmark, France, Austria, Germany, Latvia, Russia, Czech Republic and Ireland. But also in Russia.

For years, they’ve been a headache for the FBI. They weren’t aware where they came from or who produced them And it would take one undercover operation over 8 years to start making arrests.

The first were made in California and New Jersey, after federal investigators found multiple shipments of these invoices in Southeast Asian Ships.

Those arrested had connections to international criminal networks, but the FBI had long suspected something bigger was going on.

The counterfeits were not made by petty criminals or highly sophisticated criminal cartels, but the North Korean government, US authorities have said.

Again and again these bills appeared in the hands of North Korean diplomats, perhaps to increase the income of the country, which had suffered from a series of famines and the collapse of its partner, the Soviet Union.

However, North Korea denies all accusations to be involved in the printing of counterfeit money.

“The North Koreans have denied being involved in the distribution and manufacture of counterfeits, but the evidence is overwhelming that they are.” The then Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crime at the Treasury Department, Daniel Glaser, told The New York Times. “There is no doubt about the involvement of North Korea,” he said.

Other authorities have called the fake “a serious attack on the monetary system the United States “.

However, among the priorities of the FBI was stop the circulation of these banknotes on American soil.

The arrival of “superdollars” in its ports was linked to the smuggling of cigarettes and drugs.

The agency has devised a dual plan to attract the greatest number of criminals involved in the plot: a fake marriage and divorce party at the Playboy Mansion. It worked and 87 arrests were made in all.

But it is believed that a small number of counterfeit super dollars are still in circulation Currently.