World Business

Fake money haunts small businesses in US

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-05 10:24

LOS ANGELES -? Fake money has become a growing problem for small businesses in the United States, cutting into profits at firms, many of which are already struggling in the tight economy, a newspaper report said on Sunday.

The fake bills can be hard to spot with an untrained eye, and sophisticated digital printers have made it easier for criminals to create higher-quality bad bills in a faster way, the Los Angeles Times said on its website.

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Cash-based businesses such as gas stations, liquor stores, fast-food restaurants, convenience stores and mom-and-pop grocery stores are obvious targets, according to the report.

In the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2009, more than $182 million in fake US currency were removed from circulation, more than doubling the amount in fiscal 2008, the paper quoted the Secret Service as saying.

Just last month, authorities in San Diego, Southern California, broke up what they called "one of the most organized counterfeiting operations" ever discovered in the county, which they said passed more then $100,000 worth of fake $100 bills at local businesses, according to the paper.

To keep ahead of counterfeiters, the federal government in April unveiled a new design for the $100 bill, the most counterfeited US note abroad, with even more sophisticated color- shifting ink and plastic strips with 3-D images.

The new bills are due out next February.