counterfeiting

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3K+ Guitars Part of 'Massive Attempt to Con' US Consumers

They may have looked like real Gibsons worth $18M, but authorities say they're phonies

(Newser) - If they'd been actual Gibson guitars, the 3,000-plus musical instruments seized recently in California would've been worth around $18 million. They were phonies, however, and their interception at the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport is now what the Los Angeles Times is calling "the largest counterfeit musical...

This Is the Largest-Ever US Seizure of Counterfeit Goods

New York authorities seize more than $1B in knock-off handbags, shoes, more

(Newser) - Federal authorities in New York announced on Wednesday the largest-ever seizure of counterfeit goods, consisting of handbags, shoes, and other luxury merchandise valued at more than $1 billion, the AP reports. Two people were charged with trafficking the knock-offs from a New York City storage unit and other locations from...

Woman Enters Car Dealership With $16K in Home-Made Bills

But her plan didn't exactly work out

(Newser) - A woman who tried buying a car with home-made money ended up leaving the dealership in the back of a police car, Fox News reports. The 20-year-old German, who remains unidentified, carried the equivalent of $16,830 into a dealership in the city of Kaiserslautern on Friday. But the 50...

Students' iPhone Scam Took Apple for $900K, US Says

Fakes sent in for repairs were replaced by genuine ones

(Newser) - Two college students scammed Apple out of $900,000 by sending fake iPhones to the company for repair under warranty, federal complaints say. The company realized many of the thousands of phones were counterfeit but still returned almost 1,500 genuine replacements to the students, NBC News reports. The phones...

9K Pairs of Fake Nikes Won't Make it to California

They were headed to California

(Newser) - Customs and Border Protection officers on Thursday seized a shipment of more than 9,000 pairs of counterfeit Nikes, CNN reports. The sneakers—which were headed from Dongguan City, China, to an address in Chino, Calif.—came through the Port of New York/Newark in September, according to a CBP...

In the Future, Blowing on Cash Could Reveal If It's Counterfeit

Scientists look to beetle-based technology

(Newser) - Scientists are working on an easier way to detect counterfeit money—and they have beetles to thank for it. The system, which would allow people to reveal counterfeit cash by breathing on it, is based on the ability of a longhorn beetle species to change color based on local humidity,...

Cops: Counterfeiter Picks Wrong Yard Sale

Man arrested after fake $20 bill spotted by host, a bank teller

(Newser) - State police say a western Pennsylvania man has been charged with passing counterfeit $20 bills at a yard sale run by the wrong woman—a bank teller. The (Kittanning) Leader-Times reports that 40-year-old Gregory Douglas of Kittanning has been charged with forgery, a felony, and theft by deception, a misdemeanor....

How a Mom With a Printer Made $100 Bills
How a Mom With a
Printer Made $100 Bills
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How a Mom With a Printer Made $100 Bills

Tarshema Brice turned $5 bills into $100s. Yeah, not legally

(Newser) - A Hewlett-Packard 3-in-1 inkjet printer was essentially all it took for a working mom in Virginia to become a counterfeiter. Bloomberg takes a look at the case of Tarshema Brice, a 34-year-old hairstylist and janitor in Richmond who pleaded guilty last month to creating as much as $20,000 in...

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