Financing a breakaway civilization: A series of scandals involving allegedly counterfeit "bearer bonds"

...here's a brief overview of three essential methodological assumptions of any counterfeiting scheme:

1. One does not counterfeit something that does not currently exist as a medium of exchange, or that is not convertible into it. One only counterfeits, or mimics, something real.
2. Similarly, one does not counterfeit 500, 1,000 or 10,000 dollar bills. One only counterfeits what one can reasonably expect to tender to a target group, and thus must tailor its counterfeit function to the target's scale of affluence, and do so without raising suspicion.
3. One must produce a product of sufficient quality to pass the scrutiny of the target group. One does not go to the expense and effort of producing a fraudulent product that cannot be used because it does not exist, is too large a denomination to be traded with the target group, or is too poor in quality to be traded. Quality must be sufficiently high to ensure first sight acceptance of its authenticity.

Things change a bit when the target group is very wealthy, as securities (stocks, bonds, etc.) become the preferred method. Also, a wealthy target group is likely to be privy to the existence of instruments most don't know exist, and can call upon private intelligence resources to verify information.

But the point remains, one does not counterfeit what does not exist. And an addendum: One does not counterfeit something that the very wealthy do not suspect exists, or know to exist.

Before delving into the various bearer bonds scandals, it's important to mentioned a very relevant historical antecedent to these recent events, namely an extraordinary undertaking carried out by Nazi Germany.  (more...)

Financing a breakaway civilization: A series of scandals involving allegedly counterfeit "bearer bonds"

Related:

Parallel World of Finances Part I    Part II

Those Missing Trillions, and The Fed