Beware of fake money
2007-09-13
FAKE cash notes have been doing their rounds in Mbekweni, Carterville and Weltevrede. Abdhul Gafoor of Supa-U said that he had started realising last week that customers were trying to buy goods from his shop with fake twenty and fifty rand notes.
“Fortunately I have in the past shown my tellers the difference between fake and real notes, and most of the time they pick it up.
“It is only when we are extremely busy that we mistake a fake note for a real note. This does not happen often, but last weekend we ended up with a R50 and R20 fake note.
“Many of my customers are informal traders and do not realise that they have been given fake notes by one of their customers.
“It really is tragic to see the disappointment on their faces when we inform them that we cannot accept their money because it is a forgery.”
These forgeries look very much like the real thing, but once investigated closely, tell-tale signs are visible. Although the forged note is exactly the same size as the real thing, the texture of the paper is harder than the original note.
The silver strip which runs down the one side of the note will also not be like that of the real note.
On closer examination of a real note, one will be able to see a very fine print of ‘SARB’ o n the silver line and then the amount of the note, such as 20 or 50 printed.
The fake notes do not have this fine print and the colour of the line is more grey than silver.
Another factor to look out for is the watermark of the animal on the real note, which will not be seen when the fake note is held to the light.
More
News
|
