On Friday the Chamber of Commerce issued a warning about the circulation of counterfeit one hundred dollar notes. Today the Central Bank of Belize said that with the Easter holidays upon us there is reason for concern. We spoke to the Central Bank's manager of its Currency and Banking Department Marilyn Gardiner to find out how you can make sure not to get duped by bogus bucks.
Keith Swift Reporting,
At first glance this $100 note might look like the real thing - but look again. It's actually a counterfeit note which in at least one instance was passed on as the real thing. Manager of the Banking and Currency Department at the Central Bank Marilyn Gardiner says she isn't impressed.
Marilyn Gardiner, Manager of Banking and Currency Dept.
"They are not very good counterfeits. The first thing that you will know is that you're supposed to quickly flick the note like this to see if there is the security feature, the security features in the paper like the watermark, on the 100s that would be the jaguar and the security thread. Also you should find underneath the watermark, the denominational value. As you can see in this counterfeit, none of those features exist.
Another big feature that we feel is very very obvious to members of the public is our applied feature, our applied metallic feature which in the case of the 100s is the Toucan that forms many small images when you flick it from left to right or up to down. On this hologram you will see the periwinkle that's also what we call an entangled overprint, so that was overprinted on the hologram and it is very difficult. If you compare this with this counterfeit, you can see that they don't come close.
As in this specimen of a genuine note, you will see that we have the regal jaguar, the denominational value underneath the jaguar, and you have your security thread that forms a complete line when help up to the light and that takes about ten seconds."
But you may need more than ten seconds. Counterfeiters are now producing bills with what's called a "circulated" look. Instead of crisp notes which look like they've come straight from the Central Bank - the new crop of counterfeit bills look older and used - to give the impression that the notes have been in circulation.
Marilyn Gardiner,
"Because the counterfeiter made some effort to make this note look like it was in circulation for a little while, a note with that appearance is not
an indicator that it is real. That is definitely a way for the counterfeiter to try to trick you if you are not being vigilant."
And as we head into the Easter weekend, Gardiner says a lot of money will be circulating. Some of it will be the real thing and some of it will be counterfeit which is why she urges extra vigilance.
Marilyn Gardiner,
"Around this time we know that people will be spending a lot, currency will be circulating a lot during the Easter so yes, now is the time if you are not always checking your notes to be even more cautious than before. But I would like to ask people to maintain a high level of cautiousness at all times. Always check your currency note before accepting it."
Possession of counterfeit notes is a criminal offense. There is no reward or reimbursement for turning counterfeit notes to the Police or Central Bank. For more on the security features you can visit the Central Bank's website at http://www.centralbelize.org.bz.
