Woman arrested for making bogus money with color copier

Too easy. Time to change the notes. Australian notes are pretty cool.

Here's an example of two stupid people:

The lady for trying to pass fake money printed with a regular home color copier.

and

The guy for not having enough sense to realize what real money looks and feels like.

She is pretty good I think, because Adobe Photoshop does not allow you to copy notes. Color copy machines do not either, so some one knows their soft well. The paper is tricky as are the water marks.

wow! what a talented girl to actually make it look like the original and making the man fall for it... i want to see how real it would look like

They discovered 14 bogus notes.. Hmm I wonder how many she actually used?

There is lots of other software, besides APS, that will allow you to copy notes. Besides, she would not have enough money to buy APS.

You can copy notes just fine using modern printers and/or copiers, but they don't have the watermark or band in the middle to verify they're legit. It might work for smaller denominations if the shops don't have a device for checking and if the clerks are unable to tell the difference, but this is still pretty stupid. I'm surprised she got away with it in a number of locations (or the man she passed them to did).

I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures especialy if there is any possibility that the guy she owed money to was a loan shark

this woman must have been watching too much beavis and butt-head

Gurukun - Here's an example of two stupid people:

Actually, it's a few more than two people. You should also include the mullets that accepted them at the other six locations.

Asagao so true, The Australian notes are impressive, almost plastic like. It would be hard to replicate such kind of texture thus reducing such kind of incidents. I also agree that people accepting money should be able to tell a real notes from one copied on a home printer on B4 paper. Just my opinion.

If you waited until a clerk was busy with a line of customers then you might get away with passing off a photocopy, but most countries now include special print processes that allow a person without special equipment to detect Xeroxed bills. If they have any time at all to look at those bills, it would become obvious that something was wrong with the print. In addition to watermarks and the cotton stripe inside the paper, the US uses a special print process that causes a portion of the bill to change color depending on its angle to the light. It only uses that for the bills most susceptable to counterfeiting, though.

What a lot of people don't know about Japanese currency is that these bills are marked so that the blind people can distinguish among the bills. The marks are on the lower left and lower right. It's a little indented so you can feel the difference. The 10,000 note has an L mark , the 5,000 note has a small octagon and a 1,000 note has a horizpntal line which is about a centimeter wide. The 2000 note has three small circles. Most of you probably didn't even notice.

idiots..the both of them..what did she print it on? copier paper??

haven't seen a 10,000 yen bill in quite a while (and I live in Japan), but don't they have holograms on them?

Just to add a bit to the Australian notes: They feel like plastic cos they are made from PET plastic, however, last month there was a spree of fake $50 notes getting passed around, so nothing is impossible to copy, but Japanese money would be pretty easy. Yeah, they have a texture, but a couple of runs through the clothes dryer would rough them up sufficiently to pass as old bills.

She must have a really good printer at home, he didn't realize it was fake money.

Suggest reading Wikipedia article on the EURion constellation. It's a pattern of 5 circles on many countries' banknotes that scanners and copiers can recognise to stop counterfeiting. It appears only the 2000Y note in Japan has it.

@CrazyJoe: You're right, I didn't know about that. I thought it was just the different lengths of the bills that helped the blind differentiate them.

It appears only the 2000Y note in Japan has it.

The 2000 Yen note is a rare beast, though. In my 7 years in Japan, I've seen maybe 3 of them! Maybe they should put this security feature on the notes in common circulation?

this woman must have been watching too much beavis and butt-head

"Can I borrow a dollar for the copy-machine?"

haven't seen a 10,000 yen bill in quite a while (and I live in Japan), but don't they have holograms on them?

the 10,000 yen note is counterfeit-proof (there are subtle markings and hidden pictures that cannot be copied)...but what baffles me the most is that the texture is completely unlike regular paper that you can buy anywhere. You've gotta be really stupid to not feel the difference.

"male acquaintance" probably means pimp

This is undeniably a wrongdoing. By judging from the context however, the lady has no other bad intention than paying off a small debt, let her go please !

BurakuminDes - Really? Got 4 of them in my wallet at the moment. Not so rare in this part of Japan anyway. Maybe it's a regional thing.

She might have watched film "Catch Me If You Can"... lol...!!! :)

@JapanGal

She is pretty good I think, because Adobe Photoshop does not allow you to copy notes. Color copy machines do not either, so some one knows their soft well. The paper is tricky as are the water marks.

I appreciate your analysis/observation...

Have you tried this before??? Just kidding... :)

I remember wanting to try that kind of thing when I was a kid.

Here's an example of two stupid people:

Well, according to the article

14 bogus bills with the same serial number were used in six different locations.

So they were doing OK for a while - if you use this money in a dark, smoky hostess club or snack bar, you could get away with it.

When they tried to put them in an ATM - that was kinda dumb.

If you pass then off in dark smokey hostess clubs or bars where you are overcharged, they desearve the loss. Just don't go back again.

The 2000 Yen note is a rare beast, though. In my 7 years in Japan, I've seen maybe 3 of them! Maybe they should put this security feature on the notes in common circulation?

Depends where one lives, down in Okinawa banks and atm's often dish them out.

I checked up on related laws in Japan: Article 148. Counterfeiting of currency, uttering, etc.

A person who counterfeits or alters a current coin, paper money, or bank-note with the object of uttering shall be punished with penal servitude for life or not less than three years.

Article 152. Uttering of currency with knowledge after acquisition

A person who after obtaining a coin, paper money, or bank-note, utters it with knowledge that the same is counterfeit or altered or delivers it to the another with the object of uttering shall be punished with a fine or minor fine not exceeding three times the face value thereof. Provided that, the amount shall not be less than two thousand yen.

@ Soldave and Yubaru - very interesting - I have not seen a 2000Yen note up here in Tohoku for 5 years...I thought they had stopped printing them! It must be a regional thing.

I find this kinda cute xD Hahaha

I can't stand people who do this kind of stuff? Cripes, what if everyone just printed their own money?

When the government prints lots of money, a.k.a. quantitave easing, it's fine. Do it yourself and they come and take you away.

Printers and copiers also leave difficult-to-see marks, unique to each device, on printed pages and copies. This allows the government to link copies to a particular device.

@ PT24881, As per your statement, ppl who have to pay small debts must be allowed to do this... oh God.

I am here for the last 3-years, once i saw 2000 value bill. Govt. stopped printing bcoz ppl cant xerox due to its enhanced security features.. is that so?? lol.. If it really contain enhanced security features, then they must start from high value bill i.e. 10000 yen or so.

@JapanGal I appreciate as you shared experience from your past...lol.

@BurakuminDes, 2000 value bill with additional security features, regional specific...hahahaa.. well said, then its time to include tokyo!

Zybster

There is lots of other software, besides APS, that will allow you to copy notes. Besides, she would not have enough money to buy APS.

No there is not and all you need is a computer to get Adobe PS. It is free on the net if you know what you are doing. Need a serial killer?

JKats

Yes I have at an Adobe Software workshop in Miami.

They also have special soft in there to tell if a picture has been altered. It is brilliant. FBI and others use it all the time.

@JapanGal ur brilliant, At my copier as we speak. One or two reams should cover debts, rent, and off to the APS workshop in Miami. LMAO Anyhow, it's a wonderful story. I love stupid criminals. LOL

that would be hard with the us Dollar / Money. yes very wrong. in the US its always been a problem, there was once a guy who was drawing 100 Dollar bills by hand & got away with it for 7 years. sooner or later you will get caught. so if you have ONE 20 Dollar bill from change & you turn it in, you get Nothing in return, so most people will just try to spend it to get rid of it.

Had the same thought as DentShop about the guy being dumb enough to put it into the ATM- but I guess he was fooled... makes him dumb either way. I was handed a 50RMB bill in China and when I tried to spend it elsewhere I was told straight off it was fake - like I said to the guy, so are your DVD's, so take the money! He wouldn't, and told me that half the money floating around the mall was probably fake. But he did give me a dinky little light to show up the watermarks, so next time I can check my change- literally. I think the light is real...

Geez! Asagao thinks Japanese money is too easy to copy?? How about the good old green back USD?? Last time I remember all the same color, GREEN and all the bills the same SIZE?? This woman from Edogawa should have tried to pay this loan shark with $ USD $ ??

Elbuda, the higher denominations ($10 and up) have been reworked so that other colors are in there (mostly red) and the afore-mentioned color-changing number in the lower-right corner.

The funny part is - did they actually think they would become millionaires using the same serial number 1000 times over and over again and nobody wouldn't be the wiser ????? Wat the fock ?

I think she should be bequeathed a plastic medal for her entrepreneurial spirit