Counterfeiting has Japanese firm on its knees

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2006

TOKYO (AFP) — The problem of counterfeit money is bringing at least one Japanese firm to its knees.

In a new technology to detect counterfeit dollars from North Korea, a Tokyo hi-tech company is zooming bills 400 times and spreading them onto the ground, with experts examining the notes on their knees with magnifying glasses.

"The only clues we can get are by finding marks made by the counterfeiters so they can distinguish between the real and the fake notes for themselves," said Yoshihide Matsumura, 56, president of Matsumura Technology Co. Lo.

"Otherwise, everything is the same as the real one, including the ink, quality of paper and a printing machine used to make it," he said.

"If a new kind of counterfeit bill is discovered, it takes us about a...