Cryptocurrency: SuperDollar Fakes, Cryptocurrency Non-Forgeables

[grarpamp]

https://imgur.com/gallery/nDPsFj6

Superdollar (the biggest fraud in the world?)
by thefuckamisigningupwithfacebook

Pictures in link above.

Good afternoon/evening Imgur. A modern storytime. The recent history
of possibly the biggest fraud in modern history. Someone, somewhere in
the world, has systematically printed millions (some say billions) of
high quality, fake, US currency. And gotten away with it. Across the
world occasional individuals or groups get arrested, but the criminal
mastermind behind it seems to get away with impunity. More than that?
There seems to be nothing anyone can do to stop it.

What follows is a summary of a wild tale involving Russia Mafia, Irish
terrorists, the FBI, North Korean diplomats, secret bases in Syria,
and bitchy memos from the Secret Service, that goes on for thirty
years. The story of some banknotes SO convincing that they have been
nicknamed the ‘superdollar’. A story that’s going on to this day...

Somewhere in the Middle East, late-1980’s It started as a rumour.
Someone was selling high quality US currency. Fake currency. So good
even the banks couldn’t tell. It was the right kind of paper, the
right kind of ink. It had ALL the security features. The rumour was
mostly dismissed. But obviously some folks got worried. Back then as
now? The US dollar was the preferred banknote for a lot of people in
the Middle East. Their local currencies could go up and down in value.
But an American dollar? That was THE currency of choice. Some locals
began to worry- these fake dollars? They weren’t in general
circulation were they? So some folks took their US dollars to their
local banks. The local banks took a look and went ‘no worries- it’s
all good’. But the rumour was the banks couldn’t tell, right? Others
travelled to America. And asked. And sometimes the American banks
would go ‘its fine’. But about now some American banks would start to
go ‘wait a minute...’

These fake notes were exceptional high quality. (Unlike the quality of
the picture above). Printed on the correct type of cotton-linen as
actual US dollars. Using the exact same ink as US dollars. Including
the ‘safety’ features as US dollars. It took an expert eye to spot the
difference.

To people in shops, stores, and foreign banks in the Middle East? They
had no chance. The agency in charge of dealing with counterfeit
currency (the US secret service) was alerted. They took one look at
the fake dollar bills and realised... NOTHING of this high quality had
ever been seen before. Someone was printing almost perfect copies of
US dollar bills. Mostly $100’s. The C-Note was ideal. After all 80% of
the $100 bills in circulation globally are found OUTSIDE the USA. The
Secret Service gave these high quality fakes a series of technical
names each based on their formal classification by the agency. The
press nicknamed them ‘superdollars’. And the Americans had no idea who
was making them.

The sheer scale of it Over the next few years, from the mid to late
80’s to the mid 90’s, as the US began to investigate, the scale of the
problem became clear. This fake currency was being produced on a
fricken INDUSTRIAL level. Millions upon millions of dollars right
across the Middle East. And then it started spreading. To Africa.
Asia. Europe. Interpol began asking the US Secret Service for help-
they were THE experts on Counterfeit US currency; yet the Secret
Service seemed resentful of Interpol stepping in and inter-agency
information sharing was not happening.

The Syrian Connection. Throughout the early 90’s rumours grew that the
money was being produced in the Middle East; increasingly zeroing in
on the belief that it was all being done somewhere in Syria (above).
New leads emerged. In 1996 the story broke in Britain that the
government of Iran has tried to hire members of the Irish terrorist
organisation, The IRA, to assassinate three leading Iranian dissidents
who were living in exile in the west. As payment? A shed load of
weapons AND about a million dollars in high quality fake US
currency... Back then, as now, Iran was closely allied to Syria. Had
they gotten the money from some cartel based somewhere there? Based on
local intelligence, the CIA said that they believed there was a
billion dollars in fake currency out in the Middle East. The Secret
Service responded angrily and said the CIA don’t know squat about fake
currency and it was way, wayyyy less than that. The CIA inferred the
Secret Service didn’t know a damn thing about the Middle East and
stuck by their figures.

The rumours got so big that in 1996 during a state visit to Syria,
President Clinton asked President Al-Assad (the father of the current
President Assad) if he knew anything and could he please
investigate... Clinton had a problem with this theory however.
Basically the sheer scale of the printing AND the fact that someone
was using what appeared to be a specialist intaglio printer (which
ain’t small) meant that it would be very unlikely any ‘gang’ could get
hold of one, let alone ship it to Syria, let alone set it up in
secret... Added to that? The linen-cotton mix it was printed in? That
kinda stuff you can’t buy wholesale you know? The trail went cold. The
Syrian Connection was a dead end. But the fake money continued to be
produced. Years pass...

Enter The Russian Mafia By now the fake currency was appearing all
over the world. US Treasury reports began to identify Russia as a
principle conduit for superdollars. They estimated as much as 20% of
US$ held by Russian banks were fake. The Russian organised crime
cartels began selling off the fake money across the word. By 2005 we
have our first arrests in this scandal. Yet they were confusing. In
Manchester, England, a small cartel of criminals had started producing
copies of the superdollars in such quantities that had they not been
caught by a joint UK police/secret service sting operation they could
have damaged the UK economy (they were printing roughly half a million
dollars of premium quality fakes PER DAY). At last a criminal gang had
been caught... But these were high quality copies of the premium
quality fakes. The gang was a dead end. Then one of the commanders of
the another Irish terrorist network was arrested trying to smuggle
into Europe tens of thousands of fake dollars he picked up in Moscow.

In the US itself, the superdollars began to show up- leading the FBI
to launch two sting operations (with the epic names ‘Operation Royal
Charm’ and ‘Operation Smoking Dragon’) leading to attests of dozens of
people and millions in fake currency being seized. But again- these
were criminals jumping on the superdollar bandwagon. WHO was making
them was still a mystery. By 2006 while the Syrian rumour was still
ongoing, and the Russian aspect was now being exposed, when suddenly,
a new suspect entered the investigation; one that had the US shifting
their focus to the other side of the world. All eyes started looking
at North Korea.

>From North Korea with love... How did North Korea get into this story?
North Korean diplomats all travelled to their embassies via the Moscow
Embassy. It seemed as if while in Moscow, they were picking up
superdollars which they passed in their destination nations. Diplomats
were arrested- but as they were protected under the laws of Diplomatic
immunity, all that could happen was they would be deported. But the US
authorities began spotting clusters of the superdollars circulating in
South Korea and in the region of China bordering North Korea. All the
evidence began pointing towards the rogue state. Had it been the
Koreans all along? The case against North Korea took a dramatic turn
when a whole bunch of North Korean defectors started turning up and
describing how they were witness to North Korean authorities printing
tonnes of the stuff.

Things reached a head when a Senate committee report openly said North
Korea was behind it all. The US had found its culprit. Between
2006-2009 this idea picked up steam. Immense pressure was placed upon
South Korea by America to expose and denounce their Northern neighbour
for this. They refused. They were not convinced North Korea was behind
it. There was a problem with this theory. The defectors when pushed
later admitted they had lied about the stories to win favour from the
West. And the amount of fake cash coming in the region? It was clear
North Korea had access to a LOT of superdollars. Not enough to explain
away it’s by now twenty year spread across the Middle East. Sure, we
could say NK was slipping it’s embassy staff superdollars across the
world and it is clear they had access to a lot of it. But the evidence
kept saying it ORIGINATED from elsewhere. Yet again the trail went
cold. And still the money was pouring out.

Drastic measures Around 2005 the US treasury decided enough was
enough. They redesigned the $10, $20, $50 and $100 bills. Mostly to
stop the problems caused by the counterfeits. No, it wouldn’t stop the
fakes dead (takes about seven years for old notes to go out of
circulation) but it was hoped that this would wreck their plans... Of
course there were other cartels and counterfeiters who were producing
fake US currency. The superdollar wasn’t the only high quality fake.
But it was a step above the rest.

Today... This is still going on. But not on the same scale. Some
retain the belief that North Korea is behind this fake currency.
Others? Criminal gangs in Russia or China are responsible. But there
exits one suspect whose name appears again and again in the
narrative... one suspect named all the way back in 1994 as the
culprit. One suspect who is probably the brains behind it all. And to
understand how they did it we need to go back in time a little.

Iran. Mid-1970’s. Iran was a nation whose playboy king looked great.
And ruled the country with an Iron first. The Shah was in power
because the CIA has toppled the Iranian government and put his father
in charge. He stayed in power by means of a ruthless secret police and
a tough army. The Shah LIKED America. And America liked the Shah. So
much so they gave him lots of aid and support. Everyone thinks that
means guns and weapons. And sure it does... BUT aid can come in many
ways. For example the USA allowed him to buy one of these...

This is an intaglio printer. It is an old fashion method of printing
and is used these days to make one thing. Banknotes. What they gave
the Shah was a super-duper ‘this is what WE use’ intaglio printer. It
was imported form Germany at great expense. The United States figured-
you are our friend. Let’s us help you. Let us give you the same
machines we use so you can print high class bank notes. But don’t let
us stop there. US currency is NOT printed on normal paper. Oh no. That
would be stupid. We use a sophisticated cotton-linen based hydrid,
which is durable, tough, and ‘feels’ like currency. Here, they said,
have a load of that. You know to print your currency on.

Oh and while we are here... Your currency needs to look GOOD. Your
currency is called the Rial right? What colour is it? No, don’t tell
us- here. This is the ink WE use. It’s green. It’s a great green. Have
a tonne of that as well. And so American gave the Shah all this cool
stuff. But hey? The Shah was on our side they said... What could
possibly go wrong.

The 1979 Iranian Revolution is one thing. For many (myself included)
there is only one suspect in the superdollar case- Iran. Iran was
named in the original coverage of the case as the principle suspect.
The Iranians played it smart but not smart enough. To quote the
testimony of a witness who appeared before a US senator in 1996 and
who quoted an anonymous source in Europe- “Everybody knows it's Iran,"
he said. "Interpol has set up a special unit in Lyons (France) devoted
to tracking the supernotes. Langley knows it's Iran. The U.S.
government knows it's Iran. They just don't want to admit it
publicly.”

The theory goes as follows: the Iranian Revolutionary Government
discovered the printer and paper and ink in Tehran after the
revolution. They then sourced extra cotton-linen paper via Russia.
This was the height of the Cold War; Iran after the hostage crisis was
persona non grata with America. So they found what allies they could.
And this included East Germany. They had some deep links with the East
Germans. The theory is that intelligence operatives working for the
East German Secret police (the Stasi) has supplied Iran with
counterfeit plates of US currency back in the late 80’s.

And that Iran has simply printed a fortunes worth of US currency;
quietly, without much fuss, and just dumped it out there. It would
explain how nominally broke ass Iran was able to pay for huge amounts
of upgraded weapon systems. It was notable that during the 90’s when
Iran was a pariah with the US they started announcing they would only
pay foreign payments to central Asian states in US$. Like... Where did
they get this cash? This theory would explain away why the Russians
suddenly had so much of the fake currency. The Iranians were paying
the Russians for weapon systems with it. And it would also explain
away the Korean involvement. The Koreans sold the Iranians a bunch of
missiles. It cost millions. And then about half way through the
payments the Koreans suddenly said they would accept no more cash
payments from Iran. The rest of the balance had to be paid for in oil
only. Sounds like someone realised they were being conned.

This theory would also explain the Syrian link. The Iranians wouldn’t
just unveil these dollars one morning in Tehran- it would leave them
in the frame. They would have needed a place to introduce the currency
FROM somewhere not in Iran. Hence why Syria was identified. They
probably used it as a conduit. If this theory was true- it would
suggest that Iran has simply printed BILLIONS of dollars since the
late 80’s. Officially however... the United States has NEVER formally
accused Iran of this. Which begs the question... Why the hell not?

The case against the theory There are two reasons to not openly accuse
Iran of this... 1- I’m being sensationalist, picking up on
sensationalist reporting and wild unproven theories, and the problem
isn’t as bad as I made it out to be (hey- gotta keep that in there)
and Iran is NOT involved otherwise the Secret Service would have just
said so... OR 2- America has a valid reason to NOT say the Iranians
are behind such a massive fraud. Option 2 can only be possible IF
there was a realistic reason for the USA to not scream at Iran.

Consider this... The US Dollor is THE global reserve currency. It’s
part of America’s reach as a superpower that everywhere in Earth the
dollar is the biggest, most widespread currency. It could be argued
that much of the global economic stability we have is down to the
stability of the US greenback. Now imagine if, tomorrow, President
Trump exposes Iran for this crime? Imagine if he says ‘Iran has
produced maybe BILLIONS in US currency; it’s all fake; and these fake
notes are spread across the world’? How would people respond? Sure.
They could respond calmly and sensibly and moderately. Or they could
react a lot LESS sensibly. They could suddenly response by of getting
rid of their US$. Changing them into anything- Euros, Swiss Francs,
Chinese Yuan, ANYTHING.

We simply don’t know what could result from stating this but the worst
case scenarios are scary. Thus the President has a choice- say this
aloud and potentially devalue the worth of the US$ globally... OR...
Sit and take it, inwardly seethe with fury, and describe Iran as
‘supporting terrorism and destabilising the region’. Yanno. Like
Presidents Clinton, both Presidents Bush and President Obama did? All
of which begs one last question...

Are they still doing it? Hard to say. You see... Iran has a problem
right now? The impact of US sanctions has destroyed the Iranian
economy. Iran is broke. And they can’t start filtering fake US
currency via Syria anymore as the place is a mess. I mean if the
Iranians were behind such nonsense then they would be looking to dump
fake currency into a neighbouring country they can blame for it, while
using the fakes to get access to real US dollars to help shore up
their economy. That ain’t gonna happen surely?

A few months ago the news started coming out of Afghanistan. In Herat,
word came of a regional shortage of US Dollars. According to the
locals? Iranians were systematically smuggling millions in US dollars
across the border illegally. They weren’t STEALING the money though.
Not technically. The Iranians are replacing real US$ with high quality
fake notes... I swear to God, you cannot make this stuff up.

MOST VIRAL EDIT: You guys rule. Thank you again for the comments.
Leave me howling... send kittens if so inclined. Lies, damn lies and
omissions The biggest issue in this is simple- we do NOT know just how
much fake cash has been produced. Seriously we don’t. It COULD be
billions. It could just be a mere few millions. Nor can we say with
100% certainty where it is being produced. So Iran may well be
innocent. Maybe. But for me, the theory plus years of rumour and sly
allegation saying Iran (either directly or via their Syrian proxies)
is telling. Again and again they keep coming up. And recent events
only confirm this. No smoking gun, but they were in the room when the
guy was shot you know? Tl;dr- someone (I think it’s Iran) has been
producing highest quality fake US notes for decades and the US can’t
afford to call them out on this.

Evidence:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-02-mn-1906-story.html
>From 1992; LA Times cover the story of Iran printing money and
shipping it via Syria. 27 years ago man... wow. But anyway- this is
the earliest explanation/exposure of the superdollar and unlike my
version of the story? Blames Iran from the get-go.

https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/27/world/super-counterfeit-100-s-baffle-us.html?pagewanted=all
>From 1996; Coverage about the super dollar crisis; reveals the
CIA/Secret Service arguments over the scale of it; and shows how back
then? Iran was still seriously in the frame.

http://kentimmerman.com/krt/960227sbc.htm
>From 1996; THIS is amazing. This is one man’s testimony before a US
Congressman in 1996- you want to see how deep the rabbit hole goes?
This is it. In this Iran is clearly responsible and it goes into
extrondinary detail; wanna insight to the mid-90’s world of spies and
espionage and terrorism? This is it. (My only negative note- it’s just
testimony; the author does NOT source his allegations. Kenneth
Timmerman HAS an excellent track record as a journalist but he is also
fervently anti-Iran and part of the GOP anti-Iran faction. So it must
be taken at face value. Still, it’s a genuinely amazing document and I
give it much credence).

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/iran-tried-to-hire-ira-hit-men-provos-turned-down-offer-of-guns-missiles-and-cash-to-murder-three-1433403.html
>From 1996; an account of the Iranian request for the IRA to
assassinate 3 dissidents. While this story is interesting in itself
the crucial bit lies a bit down- the offer of $6 MILLION in fake
currency.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_9a4SnKjGwQC&pg=PA52&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
>From 1996; THE definitive US government guide to the superdollar
problem- included here is everything folks knew at the time AND (most
interesting) the sometimes snide comments from the US treasury, US
Secret Service, State Department, Federal Reserve etc about the
report. But yeah. This document can blow my theory out of the water OR
could be used to win the case. It’s heavy going but hey- google let us
read it for free. Win.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/3822005.stm
>From 2004; Irish terrorist arrested for shipping superdollars into the
UK via a Russian mafia connection... (see below)

https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2005/august/pistole_082205
>From 2005; the FBI blowing many trumpets about Operation Royal Charm
and Operation Smoking Dragon. Again included because of the fake
currency being imported in.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4087404.stm
>From 2005; the UK gang is brought down; printing high quality $100
bills; the link to the larger scandal is supposedly they got copies of
the fake Middle Eastern ones. However I include this as it could ALSO
show that the counterfeits are the work of many many gangs and there
is no central producer.

https://www.dailynk.com/english/nk-supernotes-still-circulating-re/
>From 2006; South Korean website who reports on news from North Korea-
HUGE breakdown of NK involvement in the distribution of fake US
currency. Worth noting- details how the North Koreans used their
embassy in Moscow as the main clearing station (see IRA story above)

https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/02/n-korea-general-tied-to-forged-100-bills/?feat=article_top10_read
>From 2009; US version of the belief North Korea is behind it all.

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33324.pdf
>From 2009; a CRS report for members of Congress about North Korea’s
involvement in the superdollar distribution. It DOES accept that there
is no evidence the MADE the stuff but focuses on how they spent it.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0718/303851-garlands/
>From 2011; IRA terrorist we mentioned in the 2005 story above goes on
trial for extradition to the USA for his role in the superdollar
syndicate. He was NOT extradited.

https://www.szzcxforensic.com/super-dollar-detecting/
>From 2017; a forensic equipment site shows how tough it can be to spot
superdollars from real ones; nice summery of the case included.

http://afghanistan.asia-news.com/en_GB/articles/cnmi_st/features/2018/09/14/feature-01
>From 2018; local Afghani news service; Iranians passing off shed loads
of fake US Dollars in order to get US dollars out of Afghanistan and
into its country. As a result? Parts of Afghanistan are dropping into
economic trouble. There is more; cut due to size.