Can You Spot A Fake Banknote?
Police are warning retailers to be extra wary of
counterfeit cash over the
busy holiday period.
A
number of counterfeit notes have been reported around New
Zealand
throughout the year. To avoid falling victim to
fake cash, retailers and the
public are being asked to
boost their knowledge around banknote security and
report
any bogus notes they come across.
There are two styles
of legal banknotes currently in circulation, and
any
fakes easily fail the look-feel-tilt test, says
Senior Police Document
Examiner Jessica
Owen.
“Our advice to cash handlers is to look at the
other security features on
the note.
“If the
banknote has a bird at the lower left front, tilt the note
back and
forth. A rolling bar of colour will move up and
down the bird as the banknote
is tilted. You can also
hold it up to a light and see a fern in the centre of
the
bird.
“The older style of banknote has a small oval
window at the front right.
Holding it up to a light will
show a watermark of the Queen to the left of
this oval
window.
“Finally, if you have access to a UV torch
or blacklight, both styles of
genuine banknote have a
patch showing the denomination that will glow,
located on
the front left of the note.”
There’s been a steady
increase of counterfeit notes over the last couple
of
years, which is concerning.
“This includes
counterfeit notes we receive from the Reserve Bank that
were
detected in the national cash handling system. They
account for around twice
the volume of notes we see
reported to Police,” Owen says.
“We know that fake
notes are a costly headache for retailers. Checking
for
the security features, together with the look-feel
test, will help prevent
these losses.”
Anyone who
finds a counterfeit note should report it to Police as soon
as
possible.
Manufacturing counterfeit notes, or
knowingly passing them on is a serious
offence.
Possession of forged bank notes can be punishable by up to
seven
years in prison, or up to 10 for using
one.
The Reserve Bank has more information about counterfeit notes