Case File
Funny Money
- U.S. Secret Service
- An estimated $200 billion in counterfeit U.S. money is manufactured each year. The U.S. Secret Service is best known for protecting the President, but the agency's original mandate was to safeguard our money.
- The Con
- Albert Talton is running a counterfeiting operation and circulates more than $7 million in phony cash around the globe. In 2005, Secret Service agents encounter a bill unlike anything seen before. The cash looks and feels genuine. That spells trouble for the agency.
- The Operation
- High-grade counterfeits are usually made with engraved plates and printing presses. That type of set-up is hard to hide, but a digital counterfeit operation can be almost invisible. Finding the Talton's printer will be like finding a needle in a haystack.
- End Game
- The homemade money turns up everywhere from upscale retailers to mom and pop operations. The lost revenue creates a widespread ripple effect. Agents in Los Angeles track the bogus money that leads to Albert Talton.
