The story of the ’superdollars’ that fooled the world, The Lazarus Heist - BBC World Service podcast

How the FBI stopped a major counterfeit money-printing operation with the help of a fake wedding and Playboy Mansion party. Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 Hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of fake - but very realistic - $100 notes are believed to have been in circulation in the 1990s and 2000s. And US officials said they kept showing up in the hands of North Korean diplomats. North Korea denies any accusations it was involved in printing fake money. After an eight-year undercover operation, the FBI launched two sting operations over the same weekend - a hoax wedding and a divorce party at the Playboy Mansion, both aimed at luring criminal contacts to the US. It worked - and eighty-seven arrests were made in total. A new $100 bill was designed in 2013 in an attempt to stop it being copied. But it’s believed a small number of superdollar fakes are still in circulation today. Watch The Lazarus Heist on YouTube here: Download the latest episode here: Artist: Choi Seong-Guk Presenter: Geoff White Producer: Méabh Ritchie ---------------- This is the official BBC World Service YouTube channel. If you like what we do, you can also find us here: Instagram 👉🏽 Twitter 👉🏽 Facebook 👉🏽 BBC World Service website 👉🏽 Thanks for watching and subscribing! #BBCWorldService #WorldService #NorthKorea #BBC #LazarusHeist #Superdollars