The WSJ of Wednesday, May 22nd, 1996 (A18) reports that two Japanese firms lost about 55 billion yen when criminals counterfeited the stored money cards that they manufactured. These cards are used to pay for pachinko games, but you can get refunds wired to an account if you cash in a card. If my memory serves me correctly, there is a certain amount of skill involved. If you play well or are lucky, you might even add money to the cards. But I'm not sure about this detail. In any case, the people with the counterfeit cards could get refunds when they didn't pay for the original card. The Journal mentions three interesting details. First, the cards were pushed by the police as a means to track the flow of cash and stop money laundering. Obviously, there wouldn't be these losses if they could really track the flow. Second, the convenience of the new cards initially boosted profits because it was so much easier to play with the cards that automatically kept track of your money. Finally, the Journal reported that there are 18,244 pachinko parlors in Japan.