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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1980
page 9
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all. Nolte porta
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nation
Counterfeiters of stock certificates
thwarted by elaborate decorations
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United Press International
NEW YORK — A tomato soup
can, an old box camera, a safety
razor, assorted fruits and animals and
a pantheon of godlike figures share a
mission in the business world —
thwarting counterfeiters.
Such diverse images are among
those chosen by public companies to
decorate their stock certificates. But
while a rare blend of fantasy and real
ism pictured in certificates has made
them an art form — the Whitney
Museum featured them in a recent
exhibit at its downtown New York
branch — security is the overriding
consideration in the intricate de
signs.
The New York Stock Exchange,
for example, requires that certifi
cates for its listed stocks “should
afford the maximum protection
against counterfeiting and for this
purpose the human figure, with
plainly discernible features and a
minimum three-quarters frontal
view of the face should be part of
every vignette as a central figure.”
Facial features and flesh tones are
included to confound the counterfei
ter since they require tricky patterns
oflight and heavy engraving lines. In
addition to being impossible for the
forger to match exactly, the mix of
light and dark areas is aimed at ham
pering the latest counterfeit tool —
the color photocopier.
Numerous other security devices
are incorporated into the stock certi
ficate: special paper, some with hid
den markings; unique border scrolls
designed for each stock; printing
processes resulting in a raised tex
ture on parts of the certificate and
special inks.
American Bank Note Co., which
has been in the security engraving
business since 1790, has patents on a
process to hide images in the certifi
cate design. The latent images show
up when the certificate is held to
strong light at an angle.
For all the emphasis on security,
firms think their certificate design
should reflect something of the cor
porate identity. So over the years,
the tomato soup can (Campbell
Soup), the box camera (Kodak) and
the razor (Gillette) have made their
appearance in vignettes along with
human figures.
American Beet Co. immortalized
the otherwise lowly beet and Drov
ers National Bank could think of no
better symbol than a steer. Com
panies with lofty self-images lean to
ward heroic and deific figures.
Every stock purchaser is entitled
to a certificate showing partial com
pany ownership but since the Wall
Street paper crunch of a decade ago,
there has been a move to downplay
the paper.
Fewer single-share certificates are
issued in favor of “jumbo” certifi
cates and a depository system has
been set up so that share transfers
can be done by bookkeeping entries
rather than paper changing hands.
“The stock certificate has been im
mobilized to a large degree,” says
Robert Charles, senior vice presi
dent of American Bank Note, who
estimates that the anti-paper drive
has halved the number of individual
certificates.
There still is plenty of business for
security engravers, however, as
their unique skills also are used for
travelers checks, airline tickets,
driver licenses, car registrations and
even food stamps.
Most foreign currencies are pre
pared by the world’s handful of pri
vate engraving firms and so were the
30,000 or so different bank notes that
were used as U.S. currency during
America’s first century. Since the
Civil War, Washington has prefer
red to print dollars itself.
Thanks bo you. lb works.
Ftor all or us.
Unibed Way
Agents hunt corporate thieves
convention ini
; at 6 p.m. today
■d by the Gromets
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United Press International
fe - NEW YORK — That new em-
ayee could be an undercover agent
—Hired to find an inside thief. Corpo
rate theft and corporate espionage
have become so pervasive that sup-
plying such agents to combat them is
and refreshment) 1 a business, says Lee Beck.
Beck’s firm, Searchers Investigat
ing Co. of Los Angeles, has repre
sented some of the biggest firms in
the country, as well as law enforce
ment agencies and lawyers.
In one of its recent publicized
cases, Beck was hired by MCA, Inc.,
and caught the man who was pirating
messages recorded by Pope John
Paul II while he was still a cardinal.
“Actually, that was a small deal as
business crime goes, ” Beck, a former
actor and stage director, told UPI.
The toll of crimes against corpora
tions and crimes by corporations
runs to billions of dollars a year, he
said, and is a major factor contribut
ing to the nation’s high inflation rate.
“Stealing from the company, or
shady larcenous practices by com
panies against each other have be-
he famed Mont)
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libertation move-
r. The feature vd
come a way of life in America,” he
said. So much so that companies now
accept inventory losses of 6 percent
to 7 percent from such theft.
Many companies are reluctant to
prosecute white collar crime, he
said. This encourages dishonest em
ployees to broaden their depreda
tions with little fear of harsh punish
ment.
It isn’t moral lethargy, but the
gross inefficiency of American cri
minal court procedure that makes
firms unwilling to prosecute a dis
honest employee, he said.
The court procedure is rigged in
favor of the thief. The complainant
often “must sit eight hours in court in
order to testify two minutes — if he is
even allowed to testify. ” Rules of evi
dence also favor the defendant, he
said.
Business firms are turning to out
side guards, electronic surveillance
and undercover agents to find ways
to stop the losses. Beck’s firm con
centrates on supplying undercover
agents, while larger firms like Wack-
enhut, Burns and others supply
guards and a wide range of services.
“The demand for agents to spy out
theft and business espionage is
large,” Beck said.
Beck said a good security firm can
help a company cut this type of crime
considerably: “Most firms are good
at manufacturing their product but
poor at holding the line on security. ”
He said he finds loopholes in almost
every company he goes into.
The undercover business is labor
intensive and its success depends on
the quality of the agents, said Beck,
who has enlarged his workforce ab
out five-fold in the last few years.
Typically, the undercover agent
goes on the payroll of the client com
pany. He or she has to be able to do
— or make a good show of doing —
many kinds of jobs. Agents come
from all sorts of backgrounds and
some, like Beck, have had training in
acting.
The pay is good. Agents get dou
ble pay on the job, from the client
and from the investigating firm.
Beck started his business in 1957
to give him “something to do in his
spare time.” His fulltime career as an
actor, director and choreographer
soon gave way to the part-time ven
ture.
While he admits that white-collar
crime can never be completely eli
minated a sound security system can
cut it to a minimum.
“The secret is to discourage the
thief— make it so tough to steal that
it is easier to be honest,” he said.
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