The Breaking Vegas show on the Oxygen Channel is quite interesting. The
counterfeiter was caught because Caesars Palace in Atlantic City eventually did
an inventory and noticed they had over $20,000 in extra $10 Tokens
(apparently at that time they didn't do inventories for long stretches of time, and
this represented the coins that he'd brought in over several trips). A avid
Caesars detective is credited with pursing this lead, even when the manufacturer
of the tokens tested the suspicious tokens and said they were legitimate
(they were that good!). The counterfeiter would probably never been caught, but
when they examined security tapes they noticed someone (him) leaving a
machine with 3 jammed tokens without ever calling over a slot technician. No one
leaves $30 in a machine, not even a high roller, apparently!
Also had the counterfeiter been more patient and put through fewer tokens
each year, he may never have been noticed. He apparently took about $25,000
worth of tokens for each casino in Atlantic city with him, and then ran them
through during 1 trip, and returned several months later - though he did go to
Vegas, Foxwoods, and perhaps other locations.
The show didn't say how much money he made overall. Apparently his initial
cost for machines was around $100,000, but he paid a helper, and presumably
had to pay for metal and perhaps other costs as he went along. Still he
probably netted at least 1 million in profit. The documentary also didn't say how
much money he had to return to the casinos when he was caught.
As usual in a scheme such as this, the perpetrator is usually caught by
being too greedy.
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