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The Czech National Bank acknowledged that forged banknotes are circulating in Brno and other cities in Moravia. They gave detailed information about how to detect them so people are not caught out. Photo credit: ČNB.

Brno, Jul 4 (updated) (BD) – The notes to watch out for are the 2009 version of the CZK 500 banknote and the 2008 version of the CZK 1,000 banknote (see photos).

So what should you check?

1) The counterfeit banknotes have a windowed thread (appearing as metallic dashes) which is made of glued-on fragments from lower value notes.

Detail of the windowed thread on a genuine CZK 1,000 banknote (microtext “ČNB 1000 Kč”) and on a counterfeit.

2) The bank also says that the notes have been produced by four colour (cyan, magenta, yellow and black.) inkjet printing, whereas genuine notes have direct colour printing. On close examination, you can see the printing dots on the forgeries.



Three details of different sizes of the print pattern of a genuine banknote and a counterfeit. It also shows the difference in print quality.

3) The key protective elements are either missing and not imitated in any way (watermark, latent image, iridescent strip), or are printed simultaneously with the pattern of the banknote and lack their characteristic features (the optically variable element does not change its colour, the front-to-back register does not match when viewed against the light). Microtexts are illegible and UV and infra-red protective elements are not imitated either.



4) The bank is also warning of CZK 100 with the windowed strip damaged or missing. They say this may be connected to the forgeries.



Genuine CZK 100 banknotes with a partly and fully removed protective strip.

CZK 100 banknotes glued together using the left- and right-hand parts without the middle part containing the windowed thread. Due to the natural fluctuation of the windowed thread, the individual banknotes were cut and glued together in different places (see the red arrows).

So, check your change and don’t get tricked by the forgers.

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