Over half of the $88.7 million worth of counterfeit currency seized in the US last year made using inkjet and laser printers.
The Atlantic reported on the ease of producing counterfeit money using regular inkjet or laser printers, with nearly 60 percent of the $88.7 million (€64.2 million) worth of counterfeit currency recouped by the US government in 2013 created using such devices.
According to Bloomberg, in 1995 “less than one percent” of fake dollar bills were produced using digital printers in comparison to today’s figures, highlighting that the counterfeiting business is no longer specialised and can be “easy for anyone with a printer” to try, not just skilled experts.
However, outside of the US most of the counterfeit money recovered last year had reportedly been made using commercial-grade offset presses, which can “more easily escape detection by US authorities and even operate with the backing of corrupt governments”, according to the Secret Service, which made over 3,600 counterfeiting arrests last year.
Demonstrating the ease of counterfeiting, Bloomberg reported on the case of Tarshema Brice, who pleaded guilty to counterfeiting between $10,000 (€7,200) and $20,000 (€14,500) over two years using a three-in-one HP inkjet printer, which she used to print scanned images of $50 and $100 bills onto $5 bills that she had soaked in degreaser before scrubbing off the ink using a toothbrush and drying them with a hairdryer.