Africa Awash With Deluge of Fake Dollars, Say Security Experts

JOHANNESBURG—In June 2023, Turkish security forces seized $1 billion of counterfeit money in Istanbul and arrested six people, including one Ghanaian and three Swedish citizens. The counterfeit haul was the largest in Turkey’s history. A subsequent investigation found that the fake $100 bills were destined for several countries on one continent, Africa. “Crackdowns on counterfeiting American currency in other parts of the world, by Interpol and U.S. government agencies, have forced the criminals to operate in Africa,” said Davis Kabunya, a Nairobi-based private security consultant who works with law enforcement to track the spread of forged U.S. dollars across the continent....