Money Tips: How to identify a fake currency note? Where should you report it? (2024)

FAQs

Money Tips: How to identify a fake currency note? Where should you report it? ›

Reporting Suspected Counterfeit Currency

If you suspect that you have a counterfeit bank note, please take it to your nearest police station.

To spot a fake note, you can check the typography of the words 'Reserve Bank of India'. These words will appear thicker on a fake note, whereas they seem far smoother on a real note. Similarly, you can check out the micro-lettering between Gandhiji's image and 'Reserve Bank of India'.

Feel the paper: Genuine currency is typically printed on special paper that has a distinct texture and feel. It should feel slightly rough to the touch, not smooth or glossy like regular printer paper. Check for watermark: Hold the banknote up to the light to see if it has a watermark.

Reporting Suspected Counterfeit Currency

If you are an individual, submit suspected counterfeit currency to your local police department. Police departments, banks, and cash processors will submit suspected counterfeit currency to the Secret Service.

The Bank will then authenticate the banknote before forwarding all counterfeits to the National Crime Agency for analysis. Counterfeit banknotes are worthless therefore no reimbursem*nt will be given unless the banknote submitted is subsequently found to be genuine.

The Counterfeit Notes may thereafter be sent to the concerned Issue Office of Reserve Bank of India, with full details. The Counterfeit Notes, which are the subject matter of litigation in the court of law, should be preserved with the branch concerned ,for three years after conclusion of the court case.

Any attempt to circulate the counterfeit currency with the knowledge that it is fake, is punishable under IPC Section 489C, and can attract fine or imprisonment ranging from seven years to life imprisonment, or both.

To spot counterfeits, look for the absence of features like security threads, UV properties, watermarks, and color-shifting inks. Fake bills can sometimes have a few of these features, but it's difficult to replicate all of them perfectly.

Where to mail a counterfeit note report? ›

(Note: You must send the Counterfeit Note Report to your local U.S. Secret Service field office. Visit the U.S. Secret Service website for more information.)

o Look for a security thread (a plastic strip) running from top to bottom. Beginning in 1990, an embedded (not printed) security thread was added to all bills except the $1 and $2 bills. If you hold the bill up to the light, you will see the strip and printing on it.

The printed lines and colours on the note are sharp and clear, with no smudges or blurred edges. If you use a magnifying glass, you will see the value of the note written in small letters and numbers below the monarch's portrait.

Look at the serial number on the bill. The color and shade of these numbers should match that of the bill's Treasury Seal. Counterfeits also tend to have numbers that are unevenly spaced or lined up crooked. Look for the distinctive red and blue fibers woven into the bill's paper.

You can also go to the nearest police station and inform them about it. What Should You Do If You Receive Fake Currency Notes? From ATM: If you receive a fake note from the ATM, show it then and there to the CCTV camera in the ATM clearly and inform the security guard there about it to make a record of it.

It is an offence to knowingly possess counterfeit banknotes. Suspect banknotes should be given to State or Federal police. It is important to note that counterfeits have no value – you will not be reimbursed. If they prove to be genuine banknotes, you will receive full value for them.