U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer in April urged the Secret Service to
work with local law enforcement to stop the rapid increase of fake
currency and provide resources and their usage to local retailers on
identifying fake bills. Counterfeit money circulating in the Long
Island region has become a real problem leaving retailers with a
unaccountable amount of loss on their businesses. Since counterfeit
money is hard to detect by the average person many do not realize
they are victims of counterfeit till they go to the bank to deposit
their weekly totals of sales and are left with no recourse of
recouping their losses.
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Charles
Schumer official portrait
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According
to the Secret Service, it has been estimated that more than $3
million annually in counterfeit money is being circulated on Long
Island, and the recent new numbers from the Secret Service cite that
there has been an increase from the beginning of 2013 to the end of
2014 of $1 million circulating in Long Island. This increase could
be due to the fact that before January 2014 counterfeit bills were
believe to have been manufactured outside of the country but it's now
alleged that a domestic printing plant has now been established in
New Jersey. Secret Service stated that counterfeit money continues
to represent a potential danger to the nation's economy and its
citizens but due to the fact that counterfeiter are now able to
produce counterfeit currency with basic computer training and skills
the public needs to be re-educated in order to identify how to stop
this counterfeiting and undermining local businesses.
Senator
Schumer points out that the most common counterfeit bill is the $100
bill with a more than 50% chance of being used as a denomination in
local counterfeiting scams but also acknowledges that smaller
denomination are also used, the most recent example; three
Long Island high school students were charged with possessing fake
$20 bills and handing them out to students at Uniondale High School.
Counterfeiting of money poses a economic threat to
local businesses and consumers, Senator Schumer stated there is a
urgent need for Secret Service to coordinate with local law
enforcement to not only identify potential counterfeit hot spots but
to apprehend and convict counterfeit criminals.
