Fierce competition in the inkjet market has made digital colour printers so cheap and the print quality so high that a pounds 100 printer can produce fake banknotes easily mistaken for genuine currency in dim light, it says.
"There appears to be little appreciation of the nature of the problem and even less sense of urgency," said John Winchcombe, a De La Rue spokesman.
The company has coined the term "digifeiters" for the new generation of counterfeiters who use the high-resolution printers.
—Robert Uhlig, "Forgers use PC inkjets to make banknotes," The Daily Telegraph, May 22, 2003
Stewart was in Pittsburgh last week for a conference on security printing sponsored by the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, a Sewickley organization that provides resources and training for the printing industry.
The conference, which attracted printing company executives from around the world, was designed to help printers learn how better to protect their documents from counterfeiters who have access to sophisticated copiers and computer technology.
In fact, because so many people who trade in fraudulent documents are using their home computers, GATF officials don't even refer to them as counterfeiters anymore.
They call them "digifeiters." Why? Because they can do most of their work using off-the-shelf digital printers, said Richard Warner, GATF's senior research scientist for government projects.
"Counterfeiters had to know a lot about printing and engraving," he said. "But today, you have kids 13 years old making money ... and even the common housewife who's at home playing with her computer figures out she can copy her store coupons."
—Joyce Gannon, "New technology makes counterfeiting as easy as clicking a mouse," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 7, 2000
