Counterfeit money
circulates in
Zululand
Ronelle Ramsamy
THE South African
Reserve Bank (SARB)
has urged citizens
to immediately hand
over counterfeit
notes to the nearest
police station.
This after a
Richards Bay
resident allegedly
received two
counterfeit R100
notes after
withdrawing a large
sum of money earlier
this month.
However, 35 year-old
Martin Geldenhuys
says he only
discovered the fake
cash, when his wife
went shopping at a
local grocery store
the following day.
‘At the till, the
scanning device
picked up the two
counterfeit R100
notes and one
ink-stained note.
The store could not
accept the money,’
said Geldenhuys.
According to
Meerensee Spar
Assistant Manager
Kobus Allison, a
leading South
African bank had
sent out a warning
about two months ago
that between 80 000
and 100 000
counterfeit R100
notes were in
circulation.
‘The bank informed
us that they had
received five
counterfeit R100
notes. We
immediately bought
money testers for
all our till points.
Since then, we have
picked up five R100
and two R50
counterfeit notes,’
said Allison.
Geldenhuys told the
Zululand Observer
that his wife went
to the bank the
following day,
explaining the
situation.
‘The bank teller
only changed the
ink-stained note and
refused to refund
the two counterfeit
notes. They must
check the money, not
us. They have the
counting machines
with the scanning
devices. It is a
serious problem when
counterfeit money is
given over a bank
counter,’ said
Geldenhuys.
Two weeks later,
Geldenhuys says the
bank manager has not
yet informed him of
the progress of
their investigation
into the matter.
Security measures
In an exclusive
interview with SARB
Senior
Communications
Practitioner,
Samantha Henkeman,
she indicated that
the number of
counterfeit notes
detected in South
Africa compared to
the total number of
notes in circulation
was below
international norms.
However, Henkeman
said that commercial
banks were aware of
counterfeit notes
and had measures in
place to ensure that
counterfeit money
was not given over
the counter.
‘The banks are not
permitted to recycle
any cash that has
not first been
authenticated by a
cash recycling
machine, cash
verification machine
and/or manually
authenticated by
trained staff,
familiar with the
level one security
features
incorporated into
the bank-notes.
‘But if a teller
uses a counting
machine that does
not have a suite of
authentication
detectors, it will
not detect a
counterfeit note,’
said Henkeman.
Educate
Last year, the
Reserve Bank
embarked on an
extensive
communication
campaign to educate
the public on how to
authenticate their
banknotes.
‘Members of the
public must be
familiar with the
level one security
features, which
consists of the
watermark, intaglio
printing, perfect
registration
(see-through
security feature),
windowed security
thread, unique
numbering,
denomination numeral
printed in colour
changing ink (R50,
R100 and R200),
holographic Coat of
Arms (on security
thread R50, R100 and
R200), geometrical
shapes and
iridescent band
(also known as the
shimmering gold
band),’ added
Henkeman.
The Reserve Bank
says it is a
criminal offence to
be in possession of
counterfeit money
and to pass those
counterfeit notes
onto a third party.
