Counterfeiting

Counterfeiting is one of the oldest jobs in the world. Basically if there is a way of even trying people would do anything to make money and take advantage of the benefits of having money. Many people try to produce “fake” money however even though the standards are so high and the chances are small, more and more people get a way of falsifying money. Most of these bills are sold to drug dealers, and they are little by little “washed” and spread across the country. There are bad bills, the ones that cannot pass certain checks, and there are the good ones, made by people like Art Williams. The bills that someone is trying to “master” over the years, the bills that someone puts so much effort into that is considered almost a pure hobby. For Art Williams counterfeiting money was not all about the benefits that money could bring, as much as it was for his accomplishment as being a master in what he does. Even though that was against the law. Banks have tried for years to design money in different ways just so less and less notes are provoking loss among customers. “A secure design offers a means of avoiding counterfeiting by reducing the profitability of doing so, but comes at the price of higher production cost for the central bank.” (Y. Lengwiler) If the notes are overlapping, as soon as they are in circulation and the bank realizes that there are more money out there than they should be, the cost of things is raising and the notes are sooner or later meaningless. Therefore all the people that cannot take the “advantage” of counterfeiting will suffer. Is his article Lengwiler talks about all those problems, and how money could really be counterfeited? He explains what importance does it have to not falsify money and he is also writing about the kind of notes that are the most counterfeited. The banks need to choose a very secure design of notes therefore counterfeiting is much harder. The more secure the bill is the better for the population, therefore the “counterfeiting is in equilibrium.” (Y. Lengwiler) The central bank is the bank that has to redeem counterfeits notes, and if there is no extra money, the money that will be “created” to cover up the false will create an unbalance among the economy of the country. People need to understand that counterfeiting is more than just creating the “perfect” note, is more than a passion, and more than a luxurious life. Is also “hurting” others, hurting the economy and creating an involuntarily chaos. When a person has a false note, the note is confiscated, and that person if is not arrested, if they can prove that they have not created false bills, is losing that bill. If it was one hundred bills, that person is having less money and might get in trouble for something that she/he has no idea that it can be possible. Before coming along this interview about Art Williams I had no idea what or how counterfeiting is functioning. I thought for some reason that the way money are made is secure, and even to just try to make it happen there is a big chance to get arrested. I had no idea how counterfeit notes could impact the economy or us the “others”. That explains why the central bank is choosing a safer note for bigger bills and less safe notes for lower bills. Lengwiler is talking about the importance of the security of the bill, in concordance with the punishment for counterfeiting. Basically lower bills are not worth the try since there is so much work into it and they will be so much harder to exchange. But hundred dollar bills are targeted because they have more “price”. They are worth the try if the counterfeiter is caught. Choosing a specific paper or color, can contribute to the sophistication of the note, and result in greater security. It is important that most people do not have access to the information about how money are made, therefore the chances that someone gets it all figure out are minimum. For some people counterfeiting is not only a passion, it can become a job or an obsession. And even though the article I chose talks about the statistics regarding the complexion of the notes, some people are smart enough to find a way around all security measurements. There are people out there that find counterfeiting fascinating enough to pursuit and succeed in what they want to accomplish. Art Williams is the perfect example. Even though he just came around the way bills were made only by mistake, his mother’s boyfriend thought him everything, he kept on studying how to make the perfect bill and he became a master. When someone is so “advanced” only feelings could ruin everything. It is not about how safe the bill is or how many security measurements are involved. Williams has proved to be pretty ingenious about it and for him talking to the public about all his secrets regarding counterfeiting is more than money. It is more about sharing with the world how he could do it, and to make clear that the authorities could not do much about his bills until someone turn him in. He details the way he has gotten away for so long and I find interesting that the government even let him publish his book. Even though the article I chose is extremely complicated and it explains how counterfeiting is “functioning” from a statistical and mathematical point of view, the main idea is that counterfeiting is a hard task and there is needed talent and intelligence to be able to “break” the security levels involved. I tried to explain it the best I could in my own words and not only that, but also I understood what counterfeiting implies as a hobby or as a job.

References:
A model of money counterfeits; Lengwiler, Yvan. http://journals.ohiolink.edu/ejc/article.cgi?issn=09318658& issue=v65i0002& article=123_amomc