Saturday, May 24, 2008

Fake RM100

Just ran into todays news which stated that there are fake RM 100 notes being circulating around in the country. Before this, there were RM50 notes around but now there is even higher value of notes being counterfeited. So folks out there, please check your notes to see if there are fakes ones among them.
When i say check your notes, i do not mean use a fake note detector to check them. Those gadgets can only be seen in banks and casinos. Apparently they claim that its very easy to distinguish the real ones and the fakes. Based on the article from The Star, there are 5 main points to differentiate them. I will highlight them as per below.
1) The security thread on a real note is embedded in the bill and appears on the reverse side of the note as a silver dotted line. When the note is held up against light, it is seen as a continuous dark line and the repeated text 'BNMRM100' can be read. This feature is missing on the counterfeit note, where the 'security thread' appears as a silver dotted line.

2) No raised Braille feature on the counterfeit note.

3) The holographic design on the LEADA (Long-lasting Economical Anti-copy Device) strip represents the same motif as used in the purple patch as well as the text 'BNMRM100'. The colour of these elements change when the viewing angle is changed. The counterfeit note features just a silver thread with a floral pattern.

4) The portrait of the first King on the right of the real note is raised (Intaglio Print). This effect is missing on the fake note.

5) Watermark portrait of the first King is missing in the counterfeit note. The numeral 100 watermark at the base of the King's watermark is also missing.
The method to check on the notes to see if its real or fake is to hold them up to the light and check for the differences. It is said that “The watermark portrait can be seen easily. At the base of the watermark, the numeral 100 is clearly visible in a real note but absent in counterfeit ones,”.
The MCA are aware of this and they will highlight the event to Bank Negara for further action. They had tried an experiment by using the fake notes with several merchants and suprisingly it got through 5 merchants without being detected. Kind of dangerous rite? What can we do on our side is to make sure that we do not have this fake notes in our possession as we won't know when then next person we hand the note to will say "hey, your notes are fakes and we do not accept them!". So the next time someone hand you a RM100 or RM50 note, you know what to do besides smiling.
Source

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