When a customs agent at San Francisco International Airport examined a package from Taiwan that was supposed to contain a birthday gift of candy and books, he thought it smelled “fishy.”
Thinking it might contain food that had been imported illegally, the agent opened the parcel. Inside, he found US$380,000 in counterfeit US$100 bills hidden among 20 bags of dried seafood.
The discovery earned Chen Mei-ling, 47, a Taiwanese woman from Kaohsiung City to a 33-month prison sentence and a US$4,300 fine last week.
It has also reawakened fears in the US that Taiwan is a center for the printing of so-called “supernotes” — forged currency that is so nearly perfect that it is almost impossible to detect.
Court papers showed that Chen arrived in San Francisco in July and stayed at the home of her former husband in Sunnyvale, California.
She has pleaded guilty to bringing US$20,000 in counterfeit US$100 bills into the US.
Within a few days she had used the forged money to buy luxury items at stores including Louis Vuitton, Coach, Foot Locker and Bath and Body Works.
Her plan had worked perfectly — until the fishy smelling parcel arrived at customs. She had posted the parcel to herself at her former husband’s address before leaving Taipei.
The customs agent took the notes to government experts who determined they were forged, whereupon Chen was arrested and charged.
Later, she admitted to having used US$3,200 in counterfeit bills at local shops.
Chen has been in custody since her arrest.
The US Secret Service, which investigates all forgery cases, as well as providing security for the president and other VIPs, determined that the fake money fell into the “supernotes” category.
“The Secret Service has led a 19-year investigation into the production and distribution of this highly deceptive family of counterfeit notes,” prosecutors said.
“First detected in 1989, the supernote is of such high quality that it often goes undetected until it reaches the Federal Reserve Bank. The Secret Service’s investigation has spanned the globe, involving more than 130 countries and resulting in more than 200 arrests,” they said.
On Aug. 20 — about a month after Chen’s arrest — Taipei police discovered what media reports described as “the most sophisticated counterfeiting factory ever found in Taiwan, with finished and semi-finished US$100 bills whose printing technology shocked the US.”
In addition to her prison sentence and fine, Chen was also ordered to pay US$3,200 in restitution to the stores where she used the fake bills and will be on probation for three years after she leaves prison.
US law enforcement sources said Taiwan has long had a reputation as a center for high-quality counterfeit money production. In recent years, however, the forgers were believed to be concentrating on the Chinese currency.
There were indications that large quantities of US$100 bills were again being produced in Taiwan, the sources said.
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