Funny money: How counterfeiting led to a major overhaul of Canada’s money - The Globe and Mail
In the fall of 2004, a Brinks truck loaded with cash was rumbling down highway 416 south of Ottawa, picking up bank deposits from stores and restaurants along the way, when the driver noticed something troubling in his rearview mirror. It was a grey Hyundai.
As the Brinks driver glanced behind him, he couldn’t help but notice it was the same car he and his partner had seen at the last two gas stations. And the Tim Horton’s before that. And the McDonald’s before that. Something wasn’t right.
When police stopped the car several minutes later, they expected to find an armed robber. What they discovered instead was just as unsettling - stacks of near-perfect counterfeits of the Canadian $20 bill. Better forgeries than had ever been seen before.
The two men inside the car were on a mission of their own that day, and hadn’t noticed the Brinks truck on their route. At each stop along the highway, they used the counterfeit cash to buy small items - a coffee, a package of gum - and pocketed legitimate money as change, amassing a small fortune as they went. This is how counterfeit money is typically laundered.
What police didn’t know at the time was that they weren’t just looking at a pair of small-time forgers. They were getting their first glimpse of the largest counterfeiting ring this country has ever seen, a group responsible for passing more than $11-million worth of known fake $20 bills, and many more that were never discovered and are still circulating in wallets and cash registers across the country.
It was a dream bust for police. But it led to a disturbing revelation inside the Bank of Canada: The central bank was losing the war on counterfeiting.