Thursday, February 20, 2020 — On Monday, February 17, the Office of the Special Prosecutor hosted training on identifying counterfeit currency conducted by Special Agents Joshua Fisher and James Ingram of the United States Secret Service, Guam Regional Office. Also participating in the training were the Anti-Human Trafficking Office and members of other Palau Government agencies.
The half-day seminar began with a brief history of the security agency followed by an overview of the manufacturing process of U.S. Currency. The two agents then led an in-depth look into security features built into different currency notes. “By understanding how to identify genuine U.S. Currency, we can more easily detect counterfeit bills,” explained Special Agent James Ingram.
The Secret Service Agents passed out both counterfeit currency and genuine specimens and asked the group to spot differences between the bills. Within a few hours of training, participants quickly spotted illicit currency and identified various levels of sophistication between different counterfeit productions.
OSP Investigators have already begun implementing this training into their active investigations. As Special Prosecutor, April Dawn Cripps’s primary mission is to make the Republic of Palau safe and free of corruption. In this pursuit, it is vital that we arm the public with the tools needed to fend off the threat posed by counterfeit money.
We encourage citizens to visit https://www.uscurrency.gov/ to learn how to identify genuine currency for themselves. The Special Agents recommend contacting a local bank, law enforcement (including the OSP), or reporting via the U.S. Secret Service website if they suspect a bill in their possession is counterfeit.
We thank the United States Department of Homeland Security, United States Secret Service for this opportunity and look forward to further cooperation on the fight against counterfeit currency.