By Andrew Green, Staff ReporterIT IS impossible to eliminate counterfeit currency, but Jamaica has made substantial progress in controlling its circulation, says Jamaica Bankers Association (JBA) president Raymond Campbell
The critical factor is the increased awareness of the Jamaican public of different types of currency, he said. This public awareness is supported by improved security, making it easier to detect and harder to counterfeit currency. "I haven't heard of any," Mr. Campbell said, when asked whether any problems had accompanied the introduction of the new US$20 bill last month. "It is circulating along with old US$20 note."
REDESIGNED US$20
A redesigned US$20 bill was issued by the Federal Reserve System on October 9. The new design will co-circulate with old-design $20 notes, until, gradually, the old-design notes become worn and are pulled from circulation.
The new note is designed to combat the readily available digital technology through computers, scanners and colour printers, said Jim Narron, staff director of currency services at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York. Supervisor for the distribution of the new denomination, Mr. Narron was speaking in an interview with The Gleaner.
"Even though the incidence of counterfeiting is very low, we are always trying to stay one or two steps ahead of the counterfeiters," Mr. Narron said. The overall incidence of counterfeit US currency is between one and two bills in 10,000.
The main change in the new US note is the addition of colour, along with a watermark visible from both sides when held up to the light. There is also a vertical plastic security thread, and colour-shifting ink in which the number 20 changes colour from copper to green when the note is tilted. The US$20 bill is more commonly counterfeited in the United States, but the US$100 bill is preferred by counterfeiters overseas, Mr. Narron said.
NO MAJOR PROBLEM
"Some people believed it was counterfeit when it first appeared," said Earle Harriott, member of the executive of the Cambio Dealers Association of Jamaica. But generally with the new US$20, he said, "there wasn't any major problem."
Mr. Campbell said the opening of the foreign currency market a decade ago gave Jamaicans a new-found access to different currencies. Because of the early unfamiliarity, it was difficult at first to tell what notes were real and which were counterfeit.
Now people are more knowledgeable about fake currencies, the JBA president said. And detection systems are more stringent. "Banks take precautions," Mr. Campbell said. "Counterfeiters can produce good fakes, but they can't make an exact reproduction."
With machines to test the notes, counterfeiting is not the concern now that it once was, Mr. Harriott stated. "They counterfeit Canadian, Cayman and US currency, but the rate of detection is greater now."
Not only is the US currency safer, but so also is the local currency, said Mr. Campbell. The denominations of Jamaican banknotes have been cut down to four readily recognisable notes, with the elimination of the 50 cent, $1, $2, $10 and $20 notes.
The result is that there is more emphasis on currency scams now, rather than attempts to pass fake currency, the Cambio Dealers executive said. A major concern is the passing of fraudulent foreign currency cheques, Mr. Harriott said.
And one simple scam now making the rounds is for an individual to approach a company and ask for some foreign currency to be changed, Mr. Harriott said. They get the sum counted and verified by a cashier. The scammer then cancels the transaction and takes the money back, he said. At that point they quietly switch the currency with a lesser amount, and again decide to go ahead with the transaction.
An inexperienced cashier will receive the foreign exchange without checking it and pay out the equivalent in Jamaican currency.
"People have to be on the lookout," Mr. Harriott said.
