Superdollar
A new $100 bill design intended to thwart counterfeiting, incorporating a "3D security ribbon", color-shifting numerals and drawings, and microprinting, entered circulation in 2013.
Early versions of the fake notes, for example, lacked the bands of magnetic ink printed in distinctive patterns on different denominations of U.S. money; later counterfeits rectified this error.
Similarly, the hands of the clock on Independence Hall on the genuine bill extend slightly beyond the inner circle; on the supernotes they stop short of it.
[10] Journalist Klaus Bender and others have speculated that the counterfeiters introduced these differences to be able to distinguish their product from the original, but there is no obvious way to confirm this.
[5] The testimony of the North Korean defectors is considered by some to be suspect, and one witness has since gone into hiding after charges were filed accusing them of fabricating the story for money.
[23] The U.S. government has theorized that the bills were spread in two ways: Since 2004, the United States has frequently called for pressure against North Korea in an attempt to end the alleged distribution of supernotes.
[30] In a meeting on January 22, 2006, the U.S. laid out its evidence and tried to persuade the Seoul government to take a harder line on the issue and impose similar financial sanctions, but was rebuffed.
[36] On February 2, 2006, banks in Japan voluntarily enforced sanctions on Banco Delta Asia identical to those imposed by the United States.
[30] Later in August 2006, the Sankei Shimbun reported that North Korea had opened 23 bank accounts in 10 countries, with the likely intent of laundering more superbills.
[39] Klaus Bender, an author of works on counterfeiting, states that the notes are of such high quality that they could only be produced by a government agency such as the CIA.
[20] Other theories of the bills' origin have become increasingly popular; Iran remains a suspect to many, while others blame independent criminal gangs operating out of Russia or China.
[20] In 2000, the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, an Israel-based think tank, laid the blame on Syria: "The Bekaa Valley has become one of the main distribution sources, if not production points, of the 'supernote' – counterfeit U.S. currency so well done that it is impossible to detect.
