Special Agent Daniel Snow of the United States Secret Service provided the ASIS group with interesting information on the role of the USSS in combating counterfeiting of US currency.

Established in 1901, the USSS has the dual role of protecting the President of the United States and other visiting dignitaries and protecting the currency of the United States. Best known as the stone-faced men and women with the dark sunglasses that shadow the President and First family, the Secret Service is also responsible for protecting the integrity of the Legal tender of the United States. In the past, counterfeiting had been done on a large scale with a more sophisticated criminal that needed large special equipment to counterfeit the US currency. Additionally, the individuals involved in this criminal enterprise were career criminals that gave the USSS a base to track them. Today with the advances in computer and printer technology, the counterfeiter could be your office mate or the people next door

In the San Francisco Bay area alone the USSS seizes 25,000 dollars a week in counterfeit money. This money is most often passed at a small establishment that deals in cash and with employees that are either unaware of what the bad bills look like or they are in collusion with the counterfeiters. Secret Service has seen a 70% increase in bad bills with the advances in printer and computer technology. This despite the advances in security safeguards that have been instituted by the U.S. Treasury Department. Many of these new safeguards are listed in a pamphlet that S/A Snow provided to the group during his talk.

Each year the Treasury has introduced new bills into the system that make it more difficult to reproduce. Education of the public and specifically retail establishments that deal in cash must learn to identify the signs of counterfeit currency. S/A Snow also made it clear that when you get a bogus bill you are stuck with it and the bank will not give you credit for the bad money you took. And knowingly passing on this bad money makes you a part of the problem and could cause you legal problems.

Counterfeiting is no small matter in the eyes of the law and an individual involved in this criminal activity could face up to 15 years in prison for their criminal activity. Despite their best efforts, forces outside the United States continue to be a thorn in the side of the USSS. Drugs are not the only commodity that the country of Columbia exports to the United States. Columbia is also known for the high quality counterfeit US currency that they reproduce and send to the streets of the US.

There is hope. Secret Service does not believe that there are any governments that are conspiring to disrupt our economy with counterfeit bills and that for the most part it is small unorganized operations. There are also educational opportunities in the month of July that are available to the public that are offered jointly by the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve in San Francisco.