Counterfeit Corner

What is the primary reason that most countries issue a new banknote to replace an older design? To help prevent COUNTERFETING!

When a central bank makes the decision to upgrade a banknote, or series of banknotes, they should assess how the current design is performing in circulation. This includes looking at counterfeits to understand how each feature is simulated, as well as the materials and techniques being used.

This will enable the central bank to design a new banknote that contains the appropriate features to deter counterfeiting based on the counterfeiting methods used in their country.

Let’s say that a 50 denomination genuine windowed security thread has been harvested onto a 500 denomination counterfeit. This has happened because the security thread is the same in all the denominations. How could you deter this methodology in a new design?

There are several options to consider:

• Convert the lower denominations to polymer, thereby forcing the counterfeiter to use the lowest value paper banknote to harvest from.
• Integrate a completely different technology into each denomination: colour-shift, holography, colour- shift + holography, colour-shift + movement, micro-optics. Or even pick three of the above and separate your banknotes into low, mid, and high denominations. The challenge with this method is public education, as there is more information for the cash user to understand.
• At the very least, the design and colour of the above thread should be changed to help the public distinguish between the denominations.