Counterfeit Currency

Counterfeiting was especially problematic when banks issued their own currency prior to the adoption of a national currency in 1863, and it poses a unique challenge to officials in the United States and abroad. Unfortunately, the implementation of a national currency did little to curtail the efforts of counterfeiters and their crimes. Shortly after the adoption of the national currency, the Secret Service was given the task of detecting and punishing counterfeiting in the United States. At its inception in 1865, the Secret Service estimated that counterfeit currency represented approximately one third of all currency in circulation. Counterfeiting poses a unique problem to the government and law-enforcement officials because of the fact that so much of it is manufactured outside the United States in other ...