Man allegedly faked bills in storage unit

WOODSTOCK, Ga., Sept. 11 (UPI) -- A Georgia man has been charged with using a rented storage unit for counterfeiting, creating bills that only an expert could tell from real ones.

Investigators in Woodstock, 25 miles north of Atlanta, believe that Conrad Maier-Sogheg sold most of the counterfeit currency overseas in bulk, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. They say he was able to bank as much as $10,000 a day in real U.S. money from the proceeds.

Maier-Sogheg used a process known as “Nigerian black wash” because it appears to have originated in that country. The process has four stages: using a laser template to imprint fake bills on ordinary paper cut to the appropriate size, washing the bills with iodine to bring out the printing, following that up with Vitamin C powder to remove the black stain of the iodine and then using baby powder to make the bills feel used.

"It's the best counterfeit scheme I have seen in my law enforcement career," said Sgt. Heath Johnston. "The bills look and feel real. Only an expert can tell they were fake."

Employees at the storage facility became suspicious of Maier-Sogheg because of his daily visits in his Rolls-Royce. They opened his unit when he failed to pay his rent and found counterfeiting materials.