Raids carried out over the past month had seized a total of US$11.04 million in counterfeit US$100 bills, making it one of the largest forgery cases in the nation’s history, CIB investigator Hsu Chao-pin (徐釗斌) said. The examination showed that the seized banknotes were from the same batch as money seized in a 2006 case where a Taipei branch of Mega Bank (兆豐銀行) lost NT$66 million (US$2.16 million at the current exchange rate) due to forged US$100 bills, Yeh said. Besides the fake US$100 bills, the raids also netted a batch of fake US dollar straps — bands for holding a single denomination of notes together — along with the engraving ink used, but Hsu said that they did not find the engraving molds or printing presses. Liao produced the bills and passed them on to Chueh, who allegedly sold the forged bills to friends at local markets for NT$350 to NT$450 each, investigators said, adding that Chueh told the buyers that the bills would pass for the real thing at currency exchange oulets in foreign nations. Chueh told the buyers that it was best to spend or exchange the bills at casinos, gambling dens, hotels and entertainment clubs in Southeast Asian nations, investigators said.
