Counterfeit Corner

This month I would like to discuss the proliferation of novelty notes, which are purchased online and used in exchange for goods and services.

What are novelty notes? Movie money, prop money, Chinese training notes, Disney dollars, notes with political figures – hell, all banknotes all fall under the novelty category!

In essence, these notes are banknotes that resemble genuine currency, but have a ‘disclaimer’ on the banknote that indicates it is not genuine. Unfortunately, the warnings on the note have become quite small and difficult to identify for the public. A banknote with a Mickey Mouse portrait is easy to detect; a $100 imprinted with the word ‘COPY’ is not.

These notes are commonly produced on a commercial offset printer using process colours (CMYK), which usually creates a better-quality printed image than inkjet or toner printers. Security features are not usually simulated on novelty notes, they are just ink on paper (or polymer).

However, some counterfeiters purchase these notes as a DIY project and add simulations of features to improve the quality. Counterfeiters may also try to remove the disclaimer.

The biggest challenge in this type of counterfeit is that the legal definition of what is counterfeit varies from country to country. The producers of these novelty notes claim that they are not selling the notes as counterfeit banknotes and have disclaimers on their websites that they are not to be used as genuine currency. These notes will have phrases such as MOTION PICTURE USE ONLY, COPY, PROP MONEY and pink Chinese characters.

The fact that these notes are not exact replicas of genuine currency allows the companies to stay in business. As soon as one online shop is issued a cease-and-desist notice, several others will start selling the banknotes. And so the fight continues!