Dealers Selling Fake Money Online
Black Press

VICTORIA - Counterfeit money can be ordered on the Internet for 40 cents on the dollar. And ordinary B.C. teenagers are among the biggest buyers, says Cpl. Mary Kostashuk, with the RCMP "E" Division commercial crime section

They get onto Internet teen chat rooms, express an interest and a counterfeiter responds, calling direct to consummate a deal

It's as easy as that, Kostashuk said, speaking in an interview in Victoria during Ethics Expo 2005, sponsored by the Vancouver Island Better Business Bureau and the B.C. Securities Commission

It happens a lot, she says, and the kids know the money is illegal. The counterfeiters are usually drug users and dealers who recruit children to get rid of fake cash manufactured by sophisticated photocopying machines.

Some drug dealers make the fake money themselves, or buy in bulk at 10 cents on the dollar from big eastern Canadian crime rings who also deal illegal drugs and fake identities and credit cards, says Vancouver-based Kostashuk.

The favourite counterfeit money is the Canadian $20 bill, she adds

Kostashuk says the courts are finally beginning to understand how serious the problem is and are handing out stiffer sentences to those who use counterfeit cash. New bills with hologram strips are making counterfeiting more difficult, and many retailers are using scanners to check older bills for hidden security markings.