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| Sunday, 6 October 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Menace of counterfeit currency : Fooled by fake notes
by ANTON NONIS The menace of counterfeit currency notes and using it in money transactions is not a new phenomenon. But what's significant is that it has continued unabated despite tough preventive measures taken by the authorities to eradicate the menace. According to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the most recent detection of counterfeits was made less than a month ago, where a total of 134, fake one-thousand rupee notes were recovered from various parts of the country. During the last three years, the CID has arrested 90 suspects involved in the counterfeit racket and seized 14 computers. The suspects were produced in courts have been released on bail pending indictment in High Courts. The largest single detection of counterfeits was made in 1989 when the police recovered over one thousand notes of Rs.500 denomination. According to the CID, the entire stock of the fake notes done in lithographic print had been in two different sheets, depicting the two sides of the currency notes. Records maintained by the police indicate that the practise of producing fake notes had been in existence since money became the medium of exchange, although not on a large scale as evident now. Police investigating currency rackets believe that fluctuating prices of goods and services, might from time to time tempt some sections of the community to look into ways of making counterfeits that resemble genuine currency notes. CID records reveal fake notes in the early stages were created by drawing them on paper. This was at a time when electronic technology was in its primitive stages in Sri Lanka, and swindlers often resorted to duplicating the currency note. A great skill in art work was needed for this, as all the minute details on both sides of the note had to be executed in order to avoid suspicion. However, investigators have found that notwithstanding the painstaking artwork and the attention to detail, it was not possible to prevent some percentage of error creeping into the drawings, as the tendency of the naked eye to detect the differences, is rather low. The swindlers aware of this possibility, compensated by mixing the fake notes with genuine ones in the currency bundle. Such transactions were found to be mostly done in places that were not properly illuminated. From duplicates, the process graduated to manual printing, where both sides of the currency notes were printed on two sheets of paper and then pasted together. Here the fake note resembled the genuine note to a great extent: But the stumbling block was that since the same note was used for all the prints, it resulted in several dud notes being printed with the same serial number, leading the police to stumble on to the realisation that counterfeits had entered the scene as a medium of exchange. In the early 1970's, investigators had come across a Singaporean company dealing in printing material on fauna and flora, making an attempt to print fake Sri Lankan currency. The company had been experimenting with Rs.100 denominations, which were found to be somewhat better than the earlier efforts. The swindlers had used some of the notes in transactions. Investigations into the racket subsequently led to the arrest of the suspects involved and whole process came to a halt, leading the police to believe they had finally put a stop to the counterfeit menace. But it resurfaced in 1980 when a soldier was detected with a bundle of fake Rs.500 notes. In Courts, the soldier revealed that the notes were found during a raid of a house in Jaffna. In this instance too the detection was made subsequent to the discovery of several dud notes with the same serial number on them. According to Assistant Superintendant of Police (CID Counterfeit Branch) Sisira Nanayakkara, recent investigations into fake currency notes indicate them to be computer prints. But he points out that even in these, a careful examination would reveal various dissimilarities. This includes the type of paper A 4 type which is much thinner than what is used for printing of real currency, where the paper is a mixture of cotton, fibre and wool and is thicker and harder than any other paper used for printing fake notes produced so far. The fake notes that are produced by the police in courts are subsequently sent to the Government Examiner of Questioned Documents (GEQD) in the Government Analyst department for extensive testing to find whether they are genuine or otherwise. According to the Examiner of Questioned Documents, Chandra Kalupahana, the currency notes that are received are subjected to Video Spectral Comparison (VSC), using ultra-violet light, blue light and infra-red lights and television screen. In addition to this check, the light microscope too is used to check various other security features that are found on genuine currency notes. The manufacturer will keep secret some amount of the security features incorporated in the genuine currency note as a precautionary measure. |
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