Keeping Current on Currency

(3/10/2014)

Balidiscovery.com’s Katrin Widodo has been conducting independent research on how best to detect counterfeit Indonesian bank notes. Along the way, Katrin learned that in Java alone last year, Bank Indonesia authorities confiscated and destroyed 13,110 counterfeit banknote.

Here are some handy tips from Katrin on how to spot bogus Indonesia bank notes:

1. Look – Look closely to see that the notes are intact, bright-colored and the printing is not in any way blurred. The embedded security thread should be visible that will resemble metallic vertical lines or a woven pattern. On the front of each Indonesian bank note you will discover a rectangular Bank Indonesia logo printed in Optical Variable Ink (OVI) that does color shifts when viewed from different angles.
2. Touch/Tactile Qualities – Genuine Indonesian banknotes have a very distinctive “feel.’ Run your fingers across the note to detect embossed print stating the nominal value of the bill. The Indonesian national emblem of the Garuda Bird and the main portrait on the bill have a raised and embossed quality, as well. Also, let your fingers try to read the Braille on each bill located on top the “Bank Indonesia” script.
3. Transparency – When held against a light source, a watermarked portrait of an Indonesian hero is depicted; look also for the recto-verso printing of the “B” and “I” of Bank Indonesia to be symmetrically printed on both sides of the bill.

Source: BaliDiscovery.com