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The occurrence of counterfeit notes is relatively low, when compared to the quantity of notes in circulation, but it is important to remember that such notes are worthless. If you have any doubt, compare the note with another that you know to be genuine.

If you have a note that you believe to be counterfeit, and you are sure who gave you the note, you should inform police at once for investigation purposes. If you have no knowledge of who gave you the note you are required to take it to any local Bank or Police station, at which time a ‘Retention of Counterfeit Currency Form’ will be completed, a copy of which will be given to you for your records as a receipt. The Bank or Police will retain the counterfeit note for recording and destruction purposes.

General Press Release h2. New £20 Note Design, Beware of Forgeries

New £20 note

**An average of over £10m per year of Counterfeit Banknotes are removed from Retailers Bankings Every Year**A worrying fact when all this comes straight off your bottom line profits. Another worry is the Bank Of England recently introduced a new design £50 note Nov 22 2011 so you need to ensure your staff are aware of this and how to check for any forged notes that will inevitably be in circulation.

Anglo-Tech can supply a range of Counterfeit Detectors ranging in price from under £2.00 to over £275.00 with the most popular and appropriately named “Check a Note” being the most effective and affordable unit to help retailers Beat the Forgers.

For under £20 this unit checks and verifies the quality of Banknote paper, which the forgers have yet to replicate. The retailer simply ‘swipes’ a note through the unit and it will leave a very pale yellow mark on a genuine note or the chemical used will change to a very dark, almost black mark on a forged note, making it very easy to spot the Fake Note, and save your money.

Anglo-Tech Ltd provide a range of solutions and products to find those Forgeries, along with Cash Counters, to make sure your cash is counted and back in the Safe ASAP and away from any opportunist theft, Till Guards, Note Safes & Coin Racks
We will also offer advice and guidance as to the best products to suit your needs, not ours. Call or visit now for brochure or advice.
See www.anglo-tech.com or call 01823 663 583 or E info@anglo-tech.com

New £50 Note Design Nov 2011 The Bank Of England are to release a new design of the *GB £50 note * Retailers are advised to be aware that, as with all new note issues, forgers are always ready within days, to counterfeit these new notes, and to supply them into the Retail market, while many staff are still not even aware that a new Note Design has been issued, what they look like, or what to look for to ensure that only Genuine notes are taken in their Tills. Check a Note will verify all English, Scottish, Euro and US dollar notes as fake (leaves a dark mark) or genuine (leaves a pale yellow mark).

New £20 note

Feel of the paper – banknotes are printed on special paper, which feels rough, not smooth or shiny and should not feel limp, oily or waxy.

Raised print -. By running your finger across the note you can feel raised print in some areas, such as the words ‘Bank of England’ on the top, front of the note, or the 20 in the lower right front on the new £20 note.

Metallic thread – the thread is embedded in the paper in all banknotes, and appears as silver dashes on the back of the £20 note. When held up to the light, the metallic thread appears as a continuous dark line

Watermark – hold the note up to the light and you will see an image of the Queen’s portrait and also a £20 on the new £20 note, on top of her head.
Also there are series of horizontal ‘bars’ that run through the foil thread.
On many Fake notes, these watermarks will show very clearly under UV light, which they should not. This is because they have been put onto the note with plastic film, and not made inside the note.

Quality of printing – Lines & colours are sharp, clear and free of any blurring or smudging. Micro-print – using a magnifying glass, look closely at the lettering beneath the Queen’s portrait – you will see the value of the note written in small letters and numbers. This should appear as continuous lines and not a series of dots.

Hologram – on the front of the old £20 note there is a hologram on the foil patch. If you tilt the note, the image will change between a brightly coloured picture of Britannia and the number ‘20’ On the new £20 note a series of holograms will change from the head of Adam Smith to a 20 and another shows a 20 and a £ symbol. The figure 20 is also embossed on the strip.

Fluorescent feature – if you put a £5, £10 or old £20 note under a good quality ultra-violet light, its value appears as a bright red and green patterned numeral on the front lower left, while the background is dull in contrast. The new £20 shows this on the front, top centre and also has random coloured flecks of red and green on both sides of the note. Under ordinary light there is no trace of this number. This feature is not found on an English £50 note, but a foil emblem is. This shows a reflective Rose and Medallion.

Scottish Banknotes, Additional Features to above
Watermark – Each bank has its own watermark, which is hardly visible until it is held up to the light. Each family series of notes contains a multi-tonal portrait watermark matching the printed portrait subject.

See Through – Each family of notes has its own see through feature. When held up to the light, the clear areas of the features fill in with colours.

Serial Numbers – Each note has an individual serial number, which can appear horizontally and/or vertically.

Fluorescence – All notes contain fluorescent features, such as buildings, windows or bars which only show up under an ultraviolet light. They do not feature the Numerals as seen on the English notes.

Hologram – Some notes have an additional feature in the form of a silver foil containing holographic images. The images and colours change depending on the angle of observation.
Courtesy of the Banks of England and Scotland, Anglo-Tech Services Ltd (Tel 01823 663 583) and Forgery Detection Association Ltd

591,473 FORGED BANKNOTES WORTH £12m FOUND IN THE UK 2005

Are you fed up with finding Forged Notes in your takings ??
Well over half a million notes, with a value of over £12m, was deducted from cash banked by UK retailers in 2005.

The quantity of English Forged notes increased by some 53%, while the Value of these forgeries went up by over 60% from the previous year. Scottish forgeries also went up by 50% in qty and over 65% in value for the same period, with 86,473 Counterfeit notes deducted from Retailers Banking.

The increases of Forged notes continues to rise year on year, while the quantity of new Banknotes printed has fallen by over 350m since 2003.

Figures for bulk seizures of notes, seized by the Police and Authorities before entering into circulation, are not known at this time.

It is a criminal offence to hold or pass on a note that you know to be counterfeit
FORGED ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH BANKNOTES REMOVED IN 2004/5
Forged English and Scottish banknotes removed in 2004/5

Below are just some of the serial nos of Forged Notes that we know have been taken by English and Scottish Retailers in the last few weeks alone.

Bank of England
£20 Notes – BF2383 2634, BC617 3521, BK 0995 5761 / 75 / 92, AJ3968 8073, BE21 695435 (This note has very good UV 20 on front lower left of note)

Bank of Scotland
£20 Notes – EE484450, EE470538, DZ173454
£10 Notes – C/94882653, ER 808551

Clydesdale Bank
£20 Notes – BN495636, BE514639, BG527092,
£50 Note – AA736293
£5 Notes – l777104

Royal Bank of Scotland
£20 Notes – B/19 472539, B/19 600823
£10 Notes – C/89 444769, EX76109
£5 Note 801339

Check-a-Note is the simplest, easiest and most cost effective unit to ensure you only take genuine notes in your cash tills.

Sometimes the Bank of England receives counterfeit banknotes several months after they are found because, for instance, the police may retain them as evidence or banks may accumulate a stock before sending on to the Bank of England.
Consequently the annual estimates are often subject to some further, upward revision.

The Bank seeks to combat counterfeits in three ways.

First, Bank of England banknotes are designed to make them difficult to copy by both traditional and computer-based printing methods. The security features that the notes carry, like raised print, watermarks and holograms provide a series of hurdles for the would-be counterfeiter. In addition the designs are very intricate with varying patterns and fine lines. The Bank works closely with De La Rue, as the printer of Bank of England banknotes, to ensure that the banknotes issued are of a uniform high quality. The Bank continues to research and develop enhanced security features for Bank of England banknotes which may be suitable for future designs.

Secondly, the Bank provides a wide range of public information leaflets, posters and videos about Bank of England banknotes to help cash users check that their banknotes are genuine. In line with best international practice the Bank has begun conducting public perception surveys about the quality of banknotes in circulation and about the incidence of counterfeits. Also, the Bank has been improving the range of information it has available by, for instance, expanding the range of leaflets and posters, revising the Bank’s website and offering computer based training software about banknotes.
Thirdly, the Bank works closely with law enforcement agencies investigating counterfeit banknotes. It is clear that big operations to produce counterfeit Bank of England banknotes tend to be associated with organised crime and so are often related to other forms of serious crime such as the distribution of illegal drugs. Staff in the Bank provide forensic expertise about counterfeiting methods and expert witness statements for court cases. In this context the Bank is very grateful to the assistance provided by the police authorities and in particular West Yorkshire Police who last year seized around 200,000 counterfeit banknotes in a raid on a printing operation.

Banknotes are issued by three note-issuing banks in Scotland and by four in Northern Ireland.

These note issues, apart from small “authorised” issues, have to be backed pound for pound by Bank of England notes.

Owing to the combined size of these issues – well over a billion pounds – it would be cumbersome for the Bank to hold ordinary Bank of England notes as cover. Instead, special one million pound notes are used. These notes are for internal use only and are never seen outside the Bank.

Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man are responsible for issuing their own notes.
Information courtesy of the Banks Of England and Scotland and the FDA Ltd.

FDA Logo

The Forgery Detection Association

A company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital

PRESS RELEASE

New Trade Association Launched

Officially launched at CEBIT, one of the world’s largest technology and innovation fairs held annually in Hanover, Germany, the recently incorporated Forgery Detection Association has been created to provide a central point of reference for manufacturers, suppliers, and users in the forgery detection/cash handling industry.

The need for a trade association for the industry has been prompted by ever increasing evidence of less than effective and sometimes non EC compliant equipment being offered into the marketplace, conflicting advice and information on forgery detection techniques, and an apparent widely varying standard of after sales service.

The recently appointed general secretary of the association, Geoff Cross, gives the example of advertising for a personal forgery detection “light” being shown illuminating the ultra-violet denomination mark on a U.K. fifty pound note – when the note does not carry this feature. “This is just one tiny example of what is going on,” says Geoff. “It’s also not uncommon to find non-CE approved forgery detection equipment, and cash handling machinery being offered for sale – especially on ? Bay, which is just not allowed anywhere within the European Community”.

“We hope that established manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors will be supporting the FDA. This will enable us to compile a data-base of suppliers of reliable safe equipment, and a comprehensive file of information which will be available to end users, and crime prevention organisations,” adds Mr Cross.

The Forgery Detection Association, which is open to members world-wide, has been well received by the industry and crime prevention bodies, and it is hoped that it will not be too long before the association logo becomes a benchmark for excellence, providing end users with the assurance that they are dealing with a group of caring and knowledgeable companies.

For further information, please contact the secretary at the address below, email info@forgery-watch.com or call up the web-site on www.forgerydetectionassociation.org.uk
Registered address: 16 Elms Road, Wellington, Somerset, TA21 8EE, U.K.
Telephone +44 (0)7768 901 702
Registered in England No 5329014

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