• Explaining currency design

    From Adam H. Kerman@21:1/5 to All on Thu Apr 24 07:32:35 2025
    Will BTR1701 say they got thisall wrong?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkq4cv5dH7I

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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From BTR1701@21:1/5 to All on Thu Apr 24 18:27:46 2025
    On Apr 24, 2025 at 12:32:35 AM PDT, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    Will BTR1701 say they got thisall wrong?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkq4cv5dH7I

    Nope, he got it all right.

    I had a particularly mysterious incident happen at LAX back in 2015, where CBP had stopped a guy traveling under a South Korean passport but had identified him through biometrics as being North Korean. He had five bricks of U.S. $100 FRNs in his carry-on and it was genuine as near as they could tell. They
    called the USSS to run it by us. I was the USSS duty agent that week and I got the call. I ran the identifiers through our system and they came up as supernotes, so I hauled ass out to LAX and started an investigation and I was on the phone to U.S. Attorney in the process of drawing up an arrest warrant when my phone rang.

    It was headquarters and the guy on the other end identified himself as the Deputy Director for Investigations and he told me to pack all the FRNs into
    the guy's carry-on and let him go on his way. To say that everything about the call was unusual was an understatement, so I told him that respectfully all I had was a voice on the other end of a phone telling me to turn a major international criminal suspect loose and that until I had some verification, I wasn't going to do that. He said he understood and told me to stand by. A minute later, my phone rang again and it was the Special Agent in Charge of L.A. who confirmed both the DDI's identity and told me to comply with his instructions. While I was taking that call, the CBP agent's phone also rang.
    It was the Director of CBP basically telling him to do the same thing and to purge all paperwork regarding the guy's detention.

    So that's what we did. Gave him back about $250,000 in near-perfect counterfeits and put him back on a flight to Australia.

    I was never told what it was all about. I suspect it either had something to with an ongoing HQ-level op and the guy was some kind of cooperating informant on his way to a buy or the State Department had some other irons in the fire with the Norks which my arresting that guy would have queered.

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  • From Rhino@21:1/5 to All on Thu Apr 24 14:52:05 2025
    On 2025-04-24 2:27 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    On Apr 24, 2025 at 12:32:35 AM PDT, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <[email protected]> wrote:

    Will BTR1701 say they got thisall wrong?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkq4cv5dH7I

    Nope, he got it all right.

    I had a particularly mysterious incident happen at LAX back in 2015, where CBP
    had stopped a guy traveling under a South Korean passport but had identified him through biometrics as being North Korean.

    Could you elaborate on that please? It sounds like you're saying that
    eyeballs or fingerprints or whatever of North Koreans are unique to
    North Koreans thus identifying their origins reliably. That's not true
    as far as I know so I assume you were simplifying things a bit to keep
    the story short. Did you mean that this particular INDIVIDUAL was
    already known to the USSS or whatever databases you accessed? That would
    make more sense to me.

    He had five bricks of U.S. $100
    FRNs in his carry-on and it was genuine as near as they could tell. They called the USSS to run it by us. I was the USSS duty agent that week and I got
    the call. I ran the identifiers through our system and they came up as supernotes, so I hauled ass out to LAX and started an investigation and I was on the phone to U.S. Attorney in the process of drawing up an arrest warrant when my phone rang.

    It was headquarters and the guy on the other end identified himself as the Deputy Director for Investigations and he told me to pack all the FRNs into the guy's carry-on and let him go on his way. To say that everything about the
    call was unusual was an understatement, so I told him that respectfully all I had was a voice on the other end of a phone telling me to turn a major international criminal suspect loose and that until I had some verification, I
    wasn't going to do that. He said he understood and told me to stand by. A minute later, my phone rang again and it was the Special Agent in Charge of L.A. who confirmed both the DDI's identity and told me to comply with his instructions. While I was taking that call, the CBP agent's phone also rang. It was the Director of CBP basically telling him to do the same thing and to purge all paperwork regarding the guy's detention.

    So that's what we did. Gave him back about $250,000 in near-perfect counterfeits and put him back on a flight to Australia.

    I was never told what it was all about. I suspect it either had something to with an ongoing HQ-level op and the guy was some kind of cooperating informant
    on his way to a buy or the State Department had some other irons in the fire with the Norks which my arresting that guy would have queered.


    I wonder if an FOI request would reveal more details? Of course, the guy
    with the money might still be active so the FOI result might be almost
    entirely redacted.

    You might do better with a quiet word to some friend within the USSS who
    has access to the info....

    Of course you probably couldn't tell *us* because then you'd have to
    kill us ;-)


    --
    Rhino

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From BTR1701@21:1/5 to All on Thu Apr 24 20:28:04 2025
    On Apr 24, 2025 at 11:52:05 AM PDT, "Rhino" <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2025-04-24 2:27 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    On Apr 24, 2025 at 12:32:35 AM PDT, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    Will BTR1701 say they got thisall wrong?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkq4cv5dH7I

    Nope, he got it all right.

    I had a particularly mysterious incident happen at LAX back in 2015, where >> CBP
    had stopped a guy traveling under a South Korean passport but had identified
    him through biometrics as being North Korean.

    Could you elaborate on that please? It sounds like you're saying that eyeballs or fingerprints or whatever of North Koreans are unique to
    North Koreans thus identifying their origins reliably. That's not true
    as far as I know so I assume you were simplifying things a bit to keep
    the story short. Did you mean that this particular INDIVIDUAL was
    already known to the USSS or whatever databases you accessed? That would
    make more sense to me.

    No, his individual biometrics were already known to the U.S government. He was someone whose movements were being tracked.

    He had five bricks of U.S. $100
    FRNs in his carry-on and it was genuine as near as they could tell. They
    called the USSS to run it by us. I was the USSS duty agent that week and I >> got
    the call. I ran the identifiers through our system and they came up as
    supernotes, so I hauled ass out to LAX and started an investigation and I >> was
    on the phone to U.S. Attorney in the process of drawing up an arrest warrant
    when my phone rang.

    It was headquarters and the guy on the other end identified himself as the >> Deputy Director for Investigations and he told me to pack all the FRNs into >> the guy's carry-on and let him go on his way. To say that everything about >> the
    call was unusual was an understatement, so I told him that respectfully all >> I
    had was a voice on the other end of a phone telling me to turn a major
    international criminal suspect loose and that until I had some
    verification, I
    wasn't going to do that. He said he understood and told me to stand by. A >> minute later, my phone rang again and it was the Special Agent in Charge of >> L.A. who confirmed both the DDI's identity and told me to comply with his >> instructions. While I was taking that call, the CBP agent's phone also rang.
    It was the Director of CBP basically telling him to do the same thing and to
    purge all paperwork regarding the guy's detention.

    So that's what we did. Gave him back about $250,000 in near-perfect
    counterfeits and put him back on a flight to Australia.

    I was never told what it was all about. I suspect it either had something to
    with an ongoing HQ-level op and the guy was some kind of cooperating
    informant
    on his way to a buy or the State Department had some other irons in the fire
    with the Norks which my arresting that guy would have queered.


    I wonder if an FOI request would reveal more details? Of course, the guy
    with the money might still be active so the FOI result might be almost entirely redacted.

    You might do better with a quiet word to some friend within the USSS who
    has access to the info....

    Of course you probably couldn't tell *us* because then you'd have to
    kill us ;-)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Adam H. Kerman@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Thu Apr 24 20:55:05 2025
    BTR1701 <[email protected]> wrote:

    . . .

    I had a particularly mysterious incident happen at . . .

    Goodness. You were in the middle of a counterspy operation!

    Thanks for the story.

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