Counterfeit money is imitation currency produced without the legal sanction of the state or government. Producing or using counterfeit money is a form of
fraud or
forgery. Counterfeiting is almost as old as money itself. Plated copies (known as
Fourrées) have been found of Lydian coins which are thought to be among the first western coins. Before the introduction of
paper money, the most prevalent method of counterfeiting involved mixing base metals with pure
gold or
silver. A form of counterfeiting is the production of documents by legitimate printers in response to fraudulent instructions. During
World War II, the
Nazis forged British pounds and American dollars. Today some of the finest counterfeit banknotes are called
Superdollars because of their high quality and likeness to the real US dollar. There has been significant counterfeiting of
Euro banknotes and coins since the launch of the currency in 2002, but considerably less than for the US dollar.