Baranov Victor Ivanovich - counterfeiter № 1: biography, private life

Baranov Victor is a cult figure in the criminal history of the USSR. This man was able, using his own mind and wit, to establish in the usual shed the issue of high-quality state money. For a long time, the KGB and the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs were looking for a gang of counterfeiters and did not expect to delay the genius-inventor who worked without accomplices.

Viktor Baranov (counterfeiter): biography of an unrecognized genius

Baranov Victor was born in 1941, since early childhood the boy showed a special interest in paper money. Considering banknotes, he did not think about wealth and their value, but estimated the artistic value and quality of performance. Victor collected a collection of old money and could spend hours treasuring his treasures. In general school, the boy studied well in all subjects.

At the same time Victor was seriously interested in drawing. In the art school, the boy's successes were also noted. What is remarkable, Baranov Victor could not only paint his own talent, but also make a quality copy of the famous painting. Obviously it was interesting for a young artist to consider the original for a long time and carefully reproduce it.

After the end of seven classes, the young man entered the construction school in the city of Rostov-on-Don. Victor received the profession of carpenter-parquet. At that time, the young man dreamed of serving in the Airborne Forces, began attending an aeroclub and made several parachute jumps. These dreams did not come true, on the advice of my mother Victor graduated from the courses of drivers DOSAAF and served in the automotive battalion.

Inventors in the USSR are not needed

Baranov considers himself an inventor and researcher from birth. Having come from the army, the young man began to try to translate his creative ideas into reality. Many times Victor offered his own inventions to the enterprises of his native city. However, every time it was for his toil, he was expecting a mean praise and a polite refusal. In the USSR, state-owned plants and factories were guided by the fulfillment of plans. Despite the promotion of respect for inventors, few people in the country were interested in introducing innovations and modernizing production processes.

Baranov Victor was disappointed by this state of affairs and a similar disregard for his own person. After another refusal, the inventor remembered his childhood hobby and decided to try to make money bills. As the counterfeiter will later say, he did not expect success. The goal of Victor was not making money, which can be sold in stores and markets. The inventor wanted to fully master the technology of producing state currency.

Self-education of a counterfeiter

Most modern people can not imagine how difficult it was to look for information before the massive emergence of computers and the Internet. Production technologies and all the intricacies of future specialists were taught in profile educational institutions. Specialized literature was quite difficult to buy or find in libraries.

However, Viktor Baranov did not even think about giving up. He found a way to get into the Stavropol printing house, where he could observe the process of printing newspapers. To obtain information about making money, the inventor was not lazy to go to Moscow and visit the Lenin Library. And still, too much had to be tried and "invented" personally.

After the detention Victor will tell you that he could fully study the technology in 12 years. The first money created by the counterfeiter, in quality, surpassed the original, printed on Goznak. The inventor especially worsened the quality in order for his bills to look realistic.

An exemplary family man and hardworking driver

Baranova's creative laboratory was his barn, located in Stavropol along Zheleznodorozhnaya Street. At the time of disclosing the secret of money production, Victor worked as a driver in the garage of the Stavropol District Committee of the CPSU. He had a reputation as an exemplary family man. Neighbors noticed that a man spends too much time in his own barn. But no one could even think that Viktor Baranov was a counterfeiter. From time to time, the inventor "accidentally" left the doors open to prying eyes. Then the curious could see the locksmith and the equipment for photo printing. The most interesting exhibits were hidden under the tables.

Monetary catastrophe in the USSR

Viktor Baranov - a counterfeiter unique. Printed with his own money, he exchanged money in the markets. At the same time the family of the inventor lived modestly, there was not even a TV in the house. The income from counterfeit money Victor invested in his hobby - he acquired new tools and equipment. But the inventor always gave his beloved wife essentially only real bills. For all the time the husband only once asked about the earnings of the inventor, he replied that he had received money from one enterprise for the proposed project.

The public funds were seriously interested in the issue of counterfeit money signs only in the mid-1970s. Almost 500 forged bills were found all over the USSR. The KGB considered various versions: from the factory printing of counterfeit rubles in the US to the collaboration of intruders with Goznak's employees. The investigation was conducted actively, but counterfeits continued to appear. What is noteworthy, often even bank employees could not distinguish counterfeit money from real ones.

Unexpected disclosure

On April 12, 1977 Victor Baranov was detained at the sale of counterfeit bills. Stavropol and all surrounding cities at that time were actively checked by employees of state services. A man exchanging new banknotes with a face value of 25 rubles was detained at the direction of a market dealer in Cherkessk. With Victor, there was a suitcase filled with fake money. The detainee proudly said: "I am a counterfeiter!" Employees of state services refused to believe that one person is able to establish such a quality production of banknotes. Then inventor-artist Victor Baranov led the investigators into his barn and began with pride to disclose the technology of production.

Baranov's Favorite Money

A genius inventor started faking Soviet money with fifty-ruble denominations. They only released about 70 of them. After that, the forger (1st number in the USSR) switched to twenty-five-ruble banknotes. This decision of the Barans explains this by the fact that the 25-ruble note is the most secure of Soviet rubles. Money inventor never worried, he was interested in the very process and the quality of manufactured products.

Baranov told the investigators that he would have faked 1 ruble if this bill had seemed to him the most difficult. From the scientific interest Victor tried to fake and old money. But he never liked the currency. "Printing dollars is like brewing coffee!" - the unrecognized genius philosophized, emphasizing the ease of forgery of foreign bills.

Cooperation with the investigation

In the course of investigative experiments, Baranov demonstrated step by step the entire technology of making bank notes. Talent counterfeiter recognized, and one of his inventions even introduced into his own production Goznak. The inventor, while waiting for the court, was not too lazy even to write recommendations for the Minister of the Ministry of the Interior of the USSR to improve the protection of Soviet bills. The history of Viktor Baranov is noteworthy and the very fact of cooperation of the detainee with the investigation. The counterfeiter behaved as if he were not afraid of punishment in principle. But he could have been sentenced to death.

Court and sentence

At the trial Baranov personally refused to defend himself and represented his own interests independently. The counterfeiter frankly told his own story. He also told about facts unknown to the investigation. For this frankness, the inventor was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of three years less than the maximum. In total, Baranov printed about 30,000 rubles, although only a small part of the funds was put into circulation. To serve his sentence, the convict was sent to the special colony of Dimitrovgrad (Ulyanovsk region).

Imprisonment

Viktor Baranov - counterfeiter, whose biography is unique. In prison, he instantly deserved authority. In his spare time from work, prisoner Baranov continued to engage in inventions and directed amateur performance. For all appearances, Victor produced complex scenery. Being in "places not so remote," the counterfeiter wrote articles in newspapers and even once won a creative contest. Released Baranov in 1990, being at large, the inventor decided to start life from scratch.

How the King of Counterfeiters Live Today

On the freedom of the liberated Viktor Baranov, no one waited, the first wife divorced him during his imprisonment. The former counterfeiter found a job at the plant "Analog". There he invented a new method of building up a nickel grid in batteries. Then Baranov tried to become an entrepreneur and founded a company that produces perfume. The perfume of the inventor differed in quality, but was not in demand because of an abundance of cheaper Chinese aromas.

How did Viktor Baranov live? Today he is married for the second time, and together with his new wife brings up a young son. The family lives very modestly, in the hostel room. Baranov himself continues to invent something from time to time. Among his inventions and innovative method of cleaning potatoes after harvesting, and decoration materials, and technology for the production of furniture from recyclables. The real pride of the inventor is the method of protection of goods, recognized as more effective than a bar code.

Looking at the photo of a gray-haired man with kind eyes, it's hard to believe that this is the counterfeiter Victor Baranov. The USSR often disdainfully treated the talents of its ordinary citizens. Why in modern Russia Baranov can not achieve success and public recognition - remains a mystery. Often the inventor is asked about why he never thought about immigration. Victor habitually responds that he does not see any sense in moving abroad, since his money was never interested.