If you think you have come across a counterfeit banknote, you are advised to report it immediately to the relevant authorities. If in your possession, touch the note as little as possible and store it safely away from the elements. You have the right to refuse a banknote if you have concerns about it.
Write your initials and the date in the white border areas of the suspect note. Limit the handling of the note. Carefully place it in a protective covering, such as an envelope. Surrender the note or coin only to a properly identified police officer or a U.S. Secret Service special agent.
Federal Reserve Banks do not accept deposits of counterfeit or unlawfully altered currency or coin.
According to the Reserve Bank of Australia, it is an offence to knowingly possess counterfeit banknotes. If you come across a banknote that you suspect is counterfeit, you should immediately give it to State or Federal police.
Making counterfeit money: a person shall not make, or begin to make, counterfeit money. The maximum penalty is 14 years' imprisonment (for a person not being a body corporate) or 750 penalty units (for a person being a body corporate).
Australian banknotes are printed on polymer, a type of plastic, and they have a distinctive feel. Polymer banknotes were developed to make our currency more difficult to counterfeit.
Report suspected counterfeit currency to your local authorities. Law enforcement agencies, banks and cash processors will submit suspected counterfeit currency to the Secret Service through our USDollars website.
While there has been less fake money printed since 2015, about 17,000 counterfeit notes were handed in to the Reserve Bank of Australia in 2021 alone. The fake money added up to more than $1.3 million. That same year there were two billion notes in circulation, worth $102 billion.
If they find out you tried to deposit fake notes willingly, you will face legal actions and can even be jailed. If you know you have fake banknotes on your hands, please, do not try putting them in an ATM – this is a penal action with serious legal consequences in some countries.
Busy retail settings are common hot spots for counterfeits, usually appearing in $50 and $100 notes, while the $100 note surpassed the $50 note as the most counterfeited in 2020. Regardless, Australian banknotes are believed to remain one of the safest in the world.
Counterfeit detection
A money counter machine helps by utilizing various detection methods like infrared sensors, ultraviolet sensors, thickness analysis, dimensional detection, and more. These detection techniques spot fake bills within milliseconds.
The machines that accept your cash have computers that scan the bills to ensure they are valid. They are not 100% foolproof, they occasionally will let counterfeit bills through or reject valid currency. Additionally, almost all of these self-checkout areas have video cameras.
Drawer Audits. Another way bank branches track and manage money is with regular drawer audits. Depending on the bank, the manager or another employee will count the money in each teller drawer.
Report Counterfeit Currency
Visit the Secret Service website to complete a Counterfeit Note Report or contact your local U.S. Secret Service field office. (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.)
The $20 bill is the most commonly counterfeited banknote in the U.S., while overseas counterfeiters are more likely to make fake $100 bills. The real $100 bills are more prevalent overseas as well, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
Will my bank replace fake money? Banks can, at their discretion, replace fake money received by their customers, but they are unlikely to do so. It makes little difference where the counterfeit came from — a store, an individual, or an ATM. In most cases, you'll end up writing off the loss.
BANKNOTE COUNTERFEITING TAKES PLACE IN SEVERAL STAGES: (1) THE ACQUISITION OF APPROPRIATE PAPER, (2) THE RENDERING OF WATERMARKS (OFTEN LEFT OUT), (3) THE REPRODUCTION OF SECURITY MARKS, (4) THE ACTUAL IMPRINTING (TODAY MOST FREQUENTLY THROUGH OFFSET TECHNIQUES) AND NUMBERING OF BILLS.
There are two probable reasons. First is that a bill that old might be too beat up and worn out for the machine to accept. Second is that large bills from before 1990 lack any modern security features, so the machine might think the bill is fake.
Legally, if a sum of money is accidentally paid into your bank or savings account and you know that it doesn't belong to you, you must pay it back.
You must submit a TTR to AUSTRAC for each individual cash transaction of A$10,000 or more. If you suspect your customer is structuring their transactions to avoid the TTR reporting threshold, or is transacting with proceeds of crime, you must submit a suspicious matter report (SMR) to AUSTRAC.
Banknotes without the printed name below the portrait are counterfeit. A banknote without the name of the person below the portrait is not necessarily counterfeit. Printed names were added to Australian banknotes from 2002. This was done to help the public identify the people that our banknotes feature.
Counterfeit money can also be laundered through the use of shell companies or offshore accounts. Criminals may engage in complex financial transactions involving multiple parties and jurisdictions, further complicating the trail of the illicit funds.
It only takes a few seconds to check the security features of the $20 note. To know it's real, just feel the paper, tilt the note, and check with light. Hold the note to light to see a faint image of Andrew Jackson to the right of the portrait. The watermark is visible from both sides of the note.