Where to find Modern Counterfeits

I don't have the text in front of me, but I really do believe that putting a small "COPY" stamp on a counterfeot note does not render it legal. The HPA was more aimed at coins, for example.

As has been stated, it is not illegal to own a ****erfeit, but the note itself is illegal and can be confiscated. There is a small but incredibly important distinction there.

Lastly, to bleach a dollar bill to show what it looks like would be illegal. Laws against defacing currency (which apply to paper money, not coins) prohibit intentionally making a bill unsuitabke for reissuance. So, if you try your best to deface a note so that it is no longer fit for circulation, but fail in your efforts, then you have not broken the law. Or, if you do not intentionally try to make it unfit for reissuance but accidentally make it unfit for circulation, you have not broken the law. But, if you deface the bill with the intention of making it unfit for circaultion and you succeed in your effoerts, you have broken the law.

(I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice - this is my understanding after some careful reading of the relevent laws. You can make your own conclusions).

 

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Call them up, they are really nice guys. They would be willing to offer any information to clarify things. I have talked to them a number of times.

Jeff

• DETROIT 313-226-6400
• GRAND RAPIDS 616-454-4671
• SAGINAW 989-497-0580

 

Just curious, do you have a reference for this?

 

Yeah, I thought the law covered making the note more valuable than it is, like trying to bump it's numismatic value or even it's face value. By your logic JBK, I should be arrested every time I accidentally leave a dollar bill in my slacks when I put them thru the wash.

 

What I've found so far is 18 USC 331-337 (Chapter 17; "Coins and Currency") ( http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/17/toc.html )
and 18 USC 470-514 (Chapter 25; "Counterfeiting and Forgery") ( http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/25/toc.html )

Check with the appropriate folks first. 20 years is a long time.

 

Well I'll be, there it is in writing. As mentioned above, the key word is "intent".

Well boys, it's time to saddle up and start hunting down that stinking "wheresgeorge" group and
hand them over to the secret service.

On the plus side, as long as I wasn't the one to did the damage to the note, I'm in the clear.
I read through most of those laws and it would appear that the offense is punishable
to the person who committed the act, not the bearer of any such note.

I guess for the sample for the demonstration, I'll have to pick up some cheap
Iraqi dinars or some other foreign currency.