This guy left a counterfeit bill lying around (somewhere where the kids should have known that the $100 was not for them) for a bunch of kiddy-winks to steal, the kids tried to pass the bill and were caught. The cops found the guy, and he more or less said that he printed the bill so that he could catch the kids stealing.
If the true story is as clear cut as I’ve typed it (and not the IRL story), has the guy done anything illegal. The IRL story is a little bit more fuzzy because of gambling debts, and a comment to an undercover cop where he said that he was going to pass the money in a casino.
This is not an answer, but an addition to your question. “Counterfeit” means you create it for the purpose of “passing it off off fraudulently or deceptively”.
If I was tinkering with my scanner and inkjet printer settings trying to get accurate colors and resolution and I used a $50 bill for comparisson testing (intending to destroy the copies when I’m done calibrating my stuff), would just the act of trying to make an accurate facsimilie be illegal? Or would I have to try to spend the fake bill?
In Canada, at least, if you do not violate the anti-counterfeiting laws, you might be guilty of violating the copyright of the Bank of Canada. The Bank of Canada does allow some reproductions of bank notes, but you have to explain what you want to do and receive permission.
A couple years ago a television station interviewed a top end counterfieter on how the money was made when he did it and in what way new technoledgy could do this. The man stated that he would be working with an enlarged bill, because it was illegal to make a reproduction the same size. He was working with the true image so it could not be reletively the same size. I say relativly the same size so it includes reasonable variences pressnt in the real dollar. A color copy of a dollar not drasticly altered in size is a federal offense, the instant it’s made, reguardless of your intent.
As soon as you make a copy of a bill, you’re guilty of counterfitting. Your motivation is irrelevant.
“Printed reproductions, including photographs of paper currency, checks, bonds, postage stamps, revenue stamps, and securities of the United States and foreign governments (except under the conditions previously listed) are violations of Title 18, Section 474 of the United States Code. Violations are punishable by fines of up to $5,000, or 15 years imprisonment, or both.”
I remember that - the copy had to be at least 50% larger. Did he bleach out his copy when he was done? If so, we likely saw the same show. It might have been Frontline or Nova.
I’m sure it was the same show, since I’ve never seen another one that approached the depth of detail. I had been thinking he mentioned a 50% enlargement minimum, but I wasn’t sure.
There is an interesting fellow named JS Boggs, who is able to draw - freehand - very detailed copies of US currency. He has run afoul of the appropriate agencies, not surprisingly. He doesn’t actually try to pass them as currency, but attempts to “trade” them for a meal at a diner, for example. Hm.
There must be a reasonable line to be drawn in interpreting this though, because as written it includes, say, a photograph of me shaking your hand and giving you a $100 bill.
The first stage of counterfiting the by old method is to take a full size photo used in the process. It’s this photo at the same size of the original that is illegal. The law is so a person caught with the picture used in the process can be prosecuted, when the money is already gone or they didn’t print any yet.