Three men were recently sentenced to several years for printing and distributing counterfeit UK banknotes. Click here to read article. These men operated a printing operation in South London but were caught in 2019. The police and Bank of England claim that 1.6 million pounds of their handiwork were taken out of circulation and more than 10 million pounds were found around the workshop and surrounding areas. It has not been released how they were caught. Or at least how accurate the simulation of genuine banknotes were. However it does support why central banks spend so much time and money improving their banknotes against forgery. But it is also important that the public know what to look for.
Source: AS
The UK is nearing the end of a complete series upgrade. Beginning in 2013, the 5, 10 and 20 pound notes have been issued in polymer. Now the 50 pound note is expected in 2021. The use of polymer has enabled the use of large clear windows and large, bright holographic images. The polymer notes are believed to be harder to counterfeit, but they also often designed to have large visible effects that the public should intuitively recognize. It will be interesting to see the counterfeits and if they simulated these features. Often the features are not simulated well, but if the public is not educated on what to look for, nearly anything can be passed as genuine.
Counterfeit Measure At Other Banks
Central Banks appear to be aggressively adding bigger and more engaging visible features to address the need to entice people to look a bit closer at their banknotes. Nearly every new banknote with a value more than a few US dollars seems to have a large clear window, a large shiny hologram, a stripe with some movement or a color-shift image that has some animation.
Source: Banknote World
The latest Australian and Aruba series are great examples, as is the latest Oman 50 riyal. This is a great time to be a collector. The range of features available to the designers makes for fun and interesting banknotes. But let’s hope it is an awful time for counterfeiters as people engage with their money and more easily recognize genuine from fake.
