The local U.S. Secret Service office, sitting on almost $6 million worth of counterfeit currency confiscated this year alone, believes a big source of the increase in funny money circulating these days is right here in the Bay Area.
The Secret Service is on the trail of the printer making $100 bills. In recent years, $5 million in counterfeit $100 bills have turned up, some as far away as Miami, but most in Northern California.
“When we talk about an uptick in counterfeit currency in the Bay Area, this particular note is pretty significant,” said Special Agent David Thomas. Of the $5 million collected so far, he said, “the majority has been in the Bay Area.”
In 2012, a total of $4.6 million worth of counterfeit bills were pulled from circulation in Northern California, he said. By fiscal year 2015, that had grown to $6.3 million and for fiscal year 2016, which ends Sept. 30, “it appears we are on track for right around $6 million,” about 10 percent of the national haul of $61 million, Thomas said.
In simultaneous raids in February, the Secret Service’s San Francisco office executed seven warrants searching for the source. One was in Stockton, the other six in Oakland.
“We’ve made multiple arrests,” Thomas said. “We did find some evidence, but we’re still looking for the manufacturer.” The agent said he cannot disclose the status of the arrests because court documents were sealed.
“We conduct an average of 75 counterfeit currency criminal investigations per year in Northern California resulting in about 30 arrests,” Thomas said.
Possessing counterfeit money is a crime, but arresting someone who is passing the currency does not always lead to the source of the phony dough, the agent said.
“In an operation this large,” Thomas said, “you have multiple distribution systems. When we run into a dead end, if they can’t or won’t identify the source, they get prosecuted.”
The Franklins the federal agents are after now, Thomas said, were produced by an offset printer with changing serial numbers.
Real currency is produced on an Intaglio printer, where there is a metal plate stamped with the image. Counterfeiters have done that in the past, but it is “incredibly expensive,” Thomas said, and rarely seen.
Merchants are encouraged to consider their safety first when encountering suspected counterfeits, Thomas said. Although simply possessing fake money is a crime and bank tellers, at least, are expected to confiscate any they find while offering no compensation, cashiers have to use their judgment.
A clerk at a Telegraph Avenue gas station who identified herself only as Julie explained how she deals with counterfeiters.
“If they’re nice about it,” she will return the bill. If the person argues, she calls police. Sometimes, the feel of the currency is enough to convince her not to take a bill, but cashiers also often also use a special pen with iodine in the ink to help identify bogus bills.
On the wall behind her were a fake $50 bill, a counterfeit $20, $10 and even a $5 bill station staff had mistakenly accepted.
Contact Mark Hedin at 510-293-2452, 408-759-2132 or mhedin@bayareanewsgroup.com.
