Albert Talton's wild ride: Lessons from a $7 million dollar counterfeiter

When Albert Talton decided to print some of his own money, he had no experience in counterfeiting, printing, or graphic design. A career criminal with a curious and meticulous nature, at the time Talton didn't even own a computer.

His first batches of fake bills were created using a standard HP desktop printer. And they weren't very good. Yet, according to a story by Men.style.com, Talton soon became one of the most accomplished and prolific counterfeiters in the history of the U.S.

Over the course of three years, Talton managed to evade capture and print $7 million worth of $100 bills. His team used garden variety laser printers, computers and imaging software to circumvent sophisticated anti-forgery technologies built into every bill. The case illustrates how technology has made it much easier to commit high crimes with tools available at a typical consumer electronics store. Every week or so, Talton picked up new printer cartridges from his local Staples store, dropped off his empty cartridges at the store's recycling bin, and even used a rewards card to collect points to use for future purchases. On May 15, he was finally caught with five accomplices, according to Coin News.