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BoN says look, flip, lift, feel and check

BoN says look, flip, lift, feel and check

After another case of money counterfeiting unearthed by the public  last week, the central bank, Bank of Namibia this week urged the public to pay close attention to their banknotes and follow the three basic steps in checking the security features.

The counterfeits were discovered last week, when two males used some of the counterfeit money to buy alcohol at a shebeen in Otjomuise.

BoN said that as with similar cases before, the counterfeits were of poor quality as none of the security features present on genuine bank notes were successfully reproduced on the counterfeited banknotes.

Upon inspection of the Bank notes, the shebeen owner noticed they were not genuine and immediately notified the police who apprehended the two suspects the next day when they returned to the same shebeen.

The suspects had already spent N$2800 of the counterfeit notes at several other shebeens, while one of the suspects was caught with N$4000 of the counterfeit notes.

The suspects appeared in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court earlier this week (06 February) and have been remanded in custody.

According to BoN counterfeiting is liable to a fine not exceeding N$100,000 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding seven years, or to both such fine and imprisonment. The Bank’s own analysis has revealed that the suspects made use of a normal printing machine to copy the Bank notes and ordinary scissors to cut the notes to size.

Meanwhile the central bank said to easily identify counterfeit currency, one has to follow these steps:

Step 1 ‘Look’: to take a careful look at the overall colours, the portraits and the serial numbers and to lift the bank notes up to light and discover perfect see-through features and watermarks

Step 2 ‘Tilt’: this involves flipping the banknotes to check for colour-changing, dynamic features, and for glossy prints. Check the multicoloured security thread on the reverse. Step 3 ‘Feel’: feel the unique banknote touch and raised prints by running your fingers on both sides of the banknotes especially on the words BANK OF NAMIBIA; main portraits and the Braille dots for the visually impaired.

BoN said following these easy steps is the surest way to prevent people falling victim to counterfeiting.

Furthermore BoN has requested members of the public to continue sharing any information regarding counterfeiting activities wherever they may occur to protect the integrity of the currency.

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