Peru: Counterfeit currency king

LIMA, Peru — False-bottomed suitcases carried by smugglers from Peru to the United States? “Mules” who swallow condom-wrapped pellets before boarding flights?

If you are thinking cocaine, then think again.

Criminals here have a new prohibited export to rival the Andean marching powder — fake dollars.

This South American country is now thought to be the world’s top producer of counterfeit greenbacks. Some 17 percent of the false bills circulating in the United States come from Peru, one US law enforcement official told GlobalPost.

Peruvian crooks aren't just churning out vast numbers of phony $20, $50 and $100 bills: They are also making much higher quality fakes than the false dollars produced within the US.

One of the reasons is technology. The counterfeiting gangs here use offset printers rather than photocopiers. But Peru is also home to some of the world’s most skilled counterfeiters, who employ painstaking, traditional techniques to give their bills apparent authenticity.

“They are specialists in giving it the tonality, texture, the watermark. Each of these bills goes through a rigorous process,” says Col. Segundo Portocarrero, head of the Peruvian police’s anti-fraud unit.

As he talks, Portocarrero illustrates how the gangs use a needle to pierce the bills and pull through a fake metal security thread, an extremely delicate, time-consuming task that only the steadiest, most skilled hands can pull off.