the.com/counterfeit
the fake so good it makes the real thing nervous
means Made in imitation of something genuine with the intent to deceive, especially fake money, goods, or documents.
from From Old French 'contrefait,' the past participle of 'contrefaire' — to imitate or counterfeit — built from 'contre-' (against, counter) and 'faire' (to make), itself from Latin 'facere,' to do or make. So at root it is something 'made against' the real thing, a making-in-opposition. English borrowed it in the medieval period, when it could mean a faithful copy as much as a fraudulent one — the deceitful sense gradually hardened until the word became a synonym for fraud.
- ancient crime
- Roman counterfeiters faced being burned alive or fed to lions
- superdollar
- North Korea allegedly forged near-perfect $100 bills
- market size
- Fakes drain over $500 billion from global trade yearly
- art twist
- Some forgeries now sell for millions as their own works
- hidden ink
- Real bills glow under UV with secret security threads
operation goldflood — us secret service busted $250 million in fake $100 bills from north korea, 2005-2006
superdollar — north korean counterfeit $100 notes so perfect the bureau of engraving called them 'superdollars'