Ration Stamps

Some black marketeers found that manipulating the entire system rather than just particular goods was the best and simplest way to get around the system. Citizens of the majority of Allied nations utilized ration booklets filled with stamps. You had to trade stamps for particular commodities, and you couldn't purchase anything—be it meat, coffee, sugar, or anything else—without the stamp. For talented forgers, this gave a tremendous opportunity. Create a fake ration book, and you'll have a successful enterprise.

In 1943, people in England would pay up to £10 for a fake ration book. That is about $400 in today's money. In the United States, it's estimated that up to 5% of the rationed gas sold nationwide was distributed to consumers using fake ration coupons. And those were merely the imitations. Additionally, it's thought that genuine coupons were being stolen en masse to be sold again. Gas vouchers worth 20 million gallons were taken just in Washington, DC.