UPFRONT

Franklin Counterfeiters Nabbed

PHILADELPHIA—See what happens when you skimp on quality printing equipment? A group of nine counterfeiters has been nabbed by federal authorities and $800,000 in bogus $100 bills—printed on a common office photocopier—have been recovered. The ersatz Ben Franklins have been in circulation for three years in several states. According to The Associated Press, quoting Secret Service agents, the counterfeiters used simple techniques to generate the phony money. They bleached portions of real $1 and $5 bills to erase the denominations and presidential portraits, then photocopied sections of a real $100 bill, including the Franklin portrait, onto the bleached paper. The bills were generated on two office copiers in a West Philadelphia apartment. From there, a network of accomplices used the fake bills in area retails stores to purchase inexpensive items, then split up the laundered money.