By Dr. S.S.VERMA, Department of Physics, Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Longowal, Distt.-Sangrur (Punjab)-148 106
The production of counterfeit money is continually increasing as a result of continuing improvements in printing technology. Counterfeit notes are now being made which appear virtually indistinguishable from a genuine note. It is more difficult than ever to distinguish between counterfeit and legitimate paper currency. The problem of counterfeiting paper currency is and has been a major concern of common man, governments, banks, commercial
businesses and retail stores around the world. Coming across to counterfeit currency notes or listening/reading to such stories in the media can make to lose everyone’s nerves when even the small amount matters a lot and according to law also having of fake currency is illegal. Trying to pass on a currency note, knowing that is a fake, is a punishable offence under sections 120-B, 420 and 489-A, B, C & D of the Indian Penal Code. Possession of counterfeit notes too is punishable with punishment as harsh as life imprisonment. Many methodologies are advertised to check the genuineness of currency notes which seems to be very complicated and uncertain when the number of denomination notes are more and the counterfeiting culprits are crossing all limits of technological advances in replicating the country’s currency notes. Under these circumstances electronics can only provide a desired and reliable solution to provide with a hand held electronic money detector with which any number of currency notes and anywhere can be certified/check with ease by everyone literate or illiterate.
The Reserve Bank of India has admitted that security features introduced in the higher denomination notes in 2005 as an anti-counterfeiting measure have been breached. In an urgent alert to all private, foreign and public sector banks, RBI has made use of Note Sorting Machines compulsory while handling cash in their branches. Following the counterfeit notes flooding the country from Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh since 2000, the RBI had made a lot of changes in the new series of notes, claiming them to be foolproof. It has, however, taken less than four years for the culprits to duplicate the new security features to produce the counterfeit notes in the new series. Pointing out that the first visual impact of these counterfeit notes is very much akin to the genuine note, the RBI circular says the notes were got checked on Currency Verification and Processing Systems / Note Sorting Machines and were treated as suspect and rejected by both the machines.
Ways to detect a fake note
Optical Variable Ink: The colour of the numeral 1000 appears green when the banknote is held flat but would change to blue when the banknote is held at an angle. The font size is also reduced.
Latent Image: When the note is head horizontally, the vertical band on the right shows an image of the number 1000.
Security Thread: The note also has a three millimeter wide security thread with the inscriptions: one thousand, the word ‘Bharat’ in Hindi and RBI.
Micro lettering: The ‘RBI’ and the numeral, “1000” – which can be viewed with the help of a magnifying glass – are between the Mahatma Gandhi portrait and the vertical band.
Watermark: When the note is held against the light, the picture of Gandhi and an electrolyte mark showing the number 1000 appear in the white space.
The best way to identify a note is the silver bromide thread that runs vertically through a currency note. Fake currency notes tend to have silver-coloured band painted in place of the silver thread. A real note has a prominent thread with raised ‘RBI’ markings made on it in English and Hindi. Also, in a real note, the colour of the thread shifts from green to blue when viewed from different angles. The real notes have a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, the Reserve Bank of India seal, the Ashoka Pillar emblem, the guarantee and promise clause, and the RBI Governor’s signature printed in relief. These can be felt by hand in notes of denominations Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. On the other side, a vertical band on the right of Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait carries a latent image showing the denominational value of the particular note. Hold the note horizontally at eye level, and this image becomes visible.
Money withdrawn from banks may be taken to some extent as genuine but same is not true with ATMs. So the next time you withdraw money from an ATM, be careful as instances of people getting fake notes from the ATM have been on the rise recently. And if you come to know that you have got a fake note from the ATM and go back to the bank to have it changed, the bank just turns it back on you. According to RBI, a counterfeit currency note should be given at a bank which will stamp the note as ‘counterfeit’, and also file an FIR with the police. You need not fear police action if you can give convincing evidence of how you got the notes. Thus, the mixing of counterfeit notes is taking place into the genuine notes at every possible point of their circulation and nobody is so sure that the currency note in his/her hand is counterfeit or genuine. When verification through visual and distinguish marks identification has remain so uncertain then there is always a need for a money detector which more reliable, fast, cost effective, handheld, and with easy operation. To assist people to combat the problem of counterfeiting, security features are often incorporated into paper. Watermarks, specialized printing, the use of holographic labels, the use of synthetic fibers or additives are used on printed banknotes. In response to the challenge of the ever growing concern of counterfeiting, various instruments and detectors have been developed for detecting counterfeit currency. Counterfeit detectors are helpful in detecting counterfeit paper currency.
Money scanner/detector is a device that determines if a piece of currency is, or is not, counterfeit. The basic process involves looking at the currency that has been inserted and by using various tests, determine if the currency is counterfeit. Since the parameters are different for each paper money, these detectors must be programmed for each item that they need to accept. In operation, if the item is accepted it is retained by the machine and placed in a storage device. If the item is rejected, the machine returns the item. Paper currency detectors scan pliant currency using optical and magnetic sensors. Various interfaces exist for the host device including a single-line pulse interface, a multi-line parallel interface, a multi-line binary interface, and serial interfaces. Wrinkled or creased bills can cause these machines to reject the bills. While in the past these devices were extremely susceptible to failure and jamming due to folded or damaged notes, they have improved remarkably in recent years and now include such features as automatic jam ejection and automatically calibrating sensors. Cleaning cards are available to remove contaminants from the machines. So far these machines cost more and are in use only in high level business houses or banks and thus, there is great need to develop their cheaper versions to make it available to common man.