> Only one side of the note is printed to resemble currency so as not to run afoul of counterfeiting laws.
Doesn't it? To know for sure we need to take it to the court.
Doesn't it? To know for sure we need to take it to the court.
Why? The example from Piskvorrr is textbook violation of 18 U.S.C. 473: (paraphrasing here) Handing out fake money with the intent that it believed to be real is a crime.
- mark gets an offer of a great exchange rate from the con-man
- mark hands over real money
- gets a stack of something - the first few bills on the top and bottom are actual local currency, but most of it are one-sided counterfeits.
- con-man counts the money in a way that doesn't give this away - this obviously requires sleight of hand and insufficient lighting
- con-man disappears in crowd
- mark eventually realizes that most of the stack is worthless
The whole con takes a minute or two at most: that's not very long at all.
The critical section "mark no longer has original currency but hasn't yet realized he has been swindled" is as short as a few seconds; this has even been done with plain paper in some particularly audacious cases.