Counterfeiting for the Beautiful People

Beauty Queen Counterfeiter

A former New Jersey beauty pageant contestant and 2007 Miss North Wildwood winner is in hot water for passing counterfeit $50 banknotesthat she may have had a hand in making. Ashley Fuhrmeister has been released on her own recognizance. Ashley's mother, Kelly A. Nowacky and a third person, John Laughlin were also arrested and are still in jail having not been able to make their bail as of this posting.

Paper money counterfeiting is a tough business nowadays, even in the U.S. While many world banknotes feature copious amounts of anti-counterfeiting devices on their notes, the United States has been cautious about adding too many to our banknotes. A quick check of the BEP siteindicates that only a handful of the features which are being developed by other companies world-wide are found on U.S. banknotes. Specifics on the security devices used on the $50 banknote, such as the micro printing illustrated here, can be found on the BEP site by clicking here. As friend and fellow blogger George Cuhaj tells me, it has been a slow and difficult process bringing U.S. banknotesup to speed regards anti-counterfieting devices.

In the meantime, I guess even beauty queens think copying U.S. banknotes is a managable endeavor. Maybe it's time to put more efforts into making the U.S. banknote more fundamentally sound, to discourage such thinking.