Examples of Known Phony Securities

Some foreign individuals and groups are trying to sell fictitious U.S. Treasury securities referred to as "Limited Edition" Treasury securities. As part of this scheme, entities such as broker-dealers and banks are being approached to act as fiduciaries for transactions. The proposal to sell these fictitious securities makes misrepresentations about the way marketable securities are bought and sold, and it also misrepresents the role that we play in the original sale and issuance of our securities.

 

These fictitious securities are being offered for sale. A person who said he was a consultant to less developed or Third World countries offered an individual these securities. This transaction was for $500 billion - an astounding amount in itself. In another incident, a large government securities dealer was contacted to enter into a transaction involving these securities. We never issued any Treasury bills that were named One-Year "Fresh Cut."

 

We get many inquiries, mostly from the Far East, about these bonds being issued in the 1930s or early 1940s by the CIA to help Chiang Kai-Shek fight the communists. It is alleged that they have been buried in caves by his generals and their heirs and have recently been unearthed. They are now being fraudulently offered at a fraction of their face value. These securities are not genuine and do not bear provisions that even remotely resemble U.S. Treasury securities. Click to view, (599K JPG file, uploaded 12/12/02)> a full-size image of the thumbnail image pictured.

 

These bogus securities are commonly known as "Morganthaus." Henry Morganthau, Jr. was Secretary of the Treasury in 1934. These "federal notes" are not currency, nor are they bearer bonds. They are crude forgeries that appear to have originated out of the Philippines. The story being told is that the United States shipped them to Philippine freedom fighters during World War II to help with the war effort. Some "investors" have brought them to us in so-called "Federal Reserve" metal boxes, along with other related certificates, such as:

These crude forgeries were likely made by inserting images of $100, $1,000, and even $1 bills into a computer program, then altering the amounts to read $100 million or $500 million, and adding coupons in both English and Chinese script. Most were printed on modern color printers or copiers, which did not exist in 1934 - when these bogus notes are alleged to have been issued. The U. S. Treasury did not issue securities (bonds) in $100 million or $500 million denominations during the period alleged in this fraud. Click to view a full-size image of the thumbnail image pictured.

The largest Federal Reserve note ever printed was $100,000 and was only used inside the banking system. For more information on this currency item, please review the Treasury Resource Center FAQ. 

 

This term usually appears in offers to assign, rent, or lease U.S. Treasury securities to an offeree for a fee, for a certain time period. These securities are bogus, since we have never issued any "defacto" Treasury securities.

 

We have received inquiries about Philippine Treasury Certificates of Deposit and their relationship to Philippine Victory Notes. The Philippine Government issued Philippine Treasury Certificates, Victory Series 66, commonly known as Philippine Victory Notes, in 1944. These currency notes were for use only in the Philippines, which at the time was a dependency of the United States, and were obligations of the Philippine Treasury. The 500 Peso Philippine Victory Notes were demonetized by the Philippine government on December 31, 1957, and were withdrawn from circulation. At that point, other denominations of the Philippine Victory Notes, Victory Series 66, were no longer regarded as legal tender but could be exchanged or replaced at par, without charge, for legal currency until July 30, 1967. After that date, Series 66 was considered demonetized. If these notes are presented to you and purported to have current value today, it is a scam.