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Today's Idiot
 77246 is a popular integer, but it isn't an area code in trendy Gangnam or the birthdate of a K-pop starlet who's past her prime.It's the serial number of a banknote that a South Korean man reproduced more than 50,000 times over a period exceeding eight years until he was tossed in the jug early this month. One serial number for the whole run of bogus bills? He was lazy... Known only by his surname, Kim, the counterfeiter produced and used some 250 million won ($215,000) "worth" of the fake 5,000-won ($4.30) bills since March 2005, according to police and the Bank of Korea. That's the largest amount of funny money produced by any individual and the longest period over which any one serial number is known to have been continuously counterfeited. "I've made a mint with this funny money scheme." The central bank said Tuesday it is rewarding the shopkeeper who reported Mr. Kim with a 2 million-won prize. It will also reward the police officers who caught him and the precinct they work out of with a 3 million-won prize. Mr. Kim lost; the cops won. The counterfeiter majored in computer graphics at college, according to a Yonhap news report, and was so skillful that it was hard for people on the street to tell the dubious dinero from genuine article. The latest central bank data show there were 2.2 fake banknotes per million in circulation as of the end of 2012. This is pretty low compared with per-million figures 42.8 for euro notes and 133 for U.K. pound bills in 2011. "Counterfeiting attempts are declining here after we strengthened antiforgery features such as color-shifting ink and holograms on banknotes," said an official at the BOK's currency-issuance department. That's true for the 5,000-won notes, but not for the highest denomination in the country, the 50,000-won note, which is increasingly a favorite among illegitimate minters. Note: If you try to counterfeit money, the bill will come due eventually. The number of fake 50,000 won bills that were detected last year almost tripled to 329. Counterfeit 10,000-won and 5,000 won notes declined 11% and 20%, respectively, last year. You could say that this run of bogus 5,000's declined in the accuse-ative. "Just take a little extra care, and you can easily tell fake bills" from the genuine articles, the BOK official said. If you [the news site is in South Korea] get a suspicious banknote, you can always use a tool on the BOK website to check it out by typing in the serial number in the appropriate box. Posted by: Korora 2013-06-27 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=371069 |