Counterfeit tracts?

Hard to believe this really happened, but it seems the Secret Service can't tell the difference between money meant to fool people into thinking it is real and a made-up Bible tract 'million dollar bill' that was clearly marked "not legal tender." They seized, as counterfeit money, a pile of evangelical tracts asking 'the million dollar question' after a woman allegedly tried to deposit one in her bank.

If you couldn't tell this was not intended to be taken for real money after handling it for 10 seconds or less, either your mind or your eyesight is going.

I agree that the Secret Service's admonishments to change the design should be followed, but not because of their counterfeiting claims. Rather, I am concerned that a tract that may appeal to people's greed may be only too successful. Frankly, having tracts that look too much like money - on both sides - could represent a dangerous temptation to a desperate person who hadn't seen them up close. The ministers who pass them out are at risk. The recipients are as well. Seriously people, if you are that in love with the design, obviously change the size, change the back so its more obviously a tract, or at least make the ink purple....

That said...how can you counterfeit something that doesn't have a real counterpart? The US mint doesn't make real million dollar bills.



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from Cedric's blog.