THE COLOR (AND SECURITY FEATURES) OF MONEY

I have a forthcoming lecture on Currency Counterfeiting and since the Holiday Season is also fast approaching, I decided to discuss this matter for your reading pleasure and I am instantly reminded of this story of my colleague GERALD and his wife ANGIE who went to Bangkok, Thailand last Valentine’s Day.

The two, spontaneous as they were made a last minute decision to spend the hearts’ day in Bangkok which would coincide with the celebration of Chinese New Year. For the first day of their tryst, they went on to proceed to Bangkok’s version of Manila’s 168 and since they had planned the day exclusively for shopping, the two took their time to visit just about every shop which caught their attention. After six hours of straight shopping and an equal number of big shopping bags, the tireless couple chanced upon a shop selling leather goods. Just a few minutes after, the shopping bags increased by one but ANGIE, who was fascinated with bags asked her husband if they can stay longer in order to examine the craftsmanship of the products on display. It was at this moment when the two noticed that not from afar, two uniformed policemen, two security guards and another woman in plain clothes were talking to a lady. Shortly thereafter, the police inspected the cash held by another lady who arrived using what GERALD noticed to be an ultraviolet light apparatus. And ANGIE, being observant too noticed that both ladies were among the salesladies in the shops they visited. Minutes afterwards, two other ladies arrived and like the first saleslady, the cash they brought were examined by the police using the apparatus. And you guessed it right- the two salesladies were likewise working for the shops ANGIE and GERALD earlier visited. It seems they were looking for counterfeit Thai Baht and it was not coincidental that they were searching it from the stores which were visited by the two. GERALD sensing trouble went on to ask ANGIE to leave but even before they could lift their butts from where they were seated, the security guards prevented them from leaving. It was confirmed. They were the subjects of the investigation by the police.

Paper money is by far the most counterfeited object in the world. Even before the advent of counterfeiting of bags, shoes, electronics and other products, paper money has been the biggest object of attention for fakers who may have been mesmerized by its appearance and scent. Throughout history, the counterfeiting of money had been done for various reasons other than crime such as the printing and circulation of counterfeit bills by warring countries for economical and psychological reasons. During World War II, the Nazis counterfeited British pounds and put them in circulation in Europe with the aim of devaluating the value of Great Britain’s money.

While the story above spoke of Thai Baht being counterfeited, our own Philippine “Piso” gets its share of counterfeiting too- after all, Filipino counterfeiters would not lag behind in terms of this prowess. Besides, the author cannot speak much about Thai Baht the way he understood the Philippine Piso.

In order not to be victimized by fake money, it pays to understand the characteristics of our money as well as its unique features. For someone who is used to having money, this article might be moot and academic but then again, let us presume that not all readers are lucky enough to possess stashes of cash to be familiar with its characteristics. For pointers, we have decided to refer to the Guidelines released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in recognizing genuine Philippine notes.

Paper is the most important feature of every note such as that of the Philippine Piso. As earlier said, some people who are used to handling money (e.g. cashiers, bank tellers) have the ability to determine the genuineness of money by the mere touch. This is so because paper money is actually different from normal paper that we encounter everyday being made out of cotton and linen (abaca) otherwise known as rag paper giving it a distinct rough texture. Meanwhile, ordinary paper is made out of the cellulose extracted from the barks of trees. The choice of rag paper over normal paper came about when through the evolution of paper notes, it was discovered that the former had stronger material compared to the latter which easily disintegrates when exposed to the elements, especially anything liquid. Testament to the strength of the material is that despite being very thin, it does not easily break when applied with pressure unlike ordinary paper, simply because rag paper had already been subjected to thousands of pounds of pressure when it is squeezed during the printing process. This is also the reason for the crispness of newly printed bills.

Needless to say, most counterfeited notes have been manufactured using ordinary paper. More than this, the purchase of rag paper is regulated by the government that the average citizen, unlike those accredited for the printing of money, would find it impossible to purchase such from suppliers.

In addition to the touch method, it would be helpful too when in doubt to crumple the note and you would see that the genuine note attempts to push back to revert back to its original form after crumpling.

In recent times, counterfeiters have learned the technology of bleaching on the premise that people use the “touch system” in determining the genuineness of money. By bleaching, counterfeiters get to bleach genuine money, in all instances the lowest Philippine Piso bill in circulation. The process of bleaching would require the use of chemical reagents that would erase the original print on the rag paper- again a manifest proof of how durable this type of material is. Once the paper is dry, they ultimately superimpose a higher value Philippine Piso thereat with the use of a scanner and a high-end inkjet printer. In recent cases handled by authorities, printing was suspected to have been done using laser printers.

In this type of modus operandi, most reported victims have been taxi drivers, cashiers and guest relations officers in dimly lit bars, who rely on the sense of touch in ascertaining the genuineness of the money handed to them because of the lack of suitable lighting at the time payment is made. Moral of the story? “Pagdudahan kapag galante mag-tip.”

Under any jurisdiction, the general practice is to distinguish money from another by means of the persons portrayed in the notes. In the United States, the personalities depicted are GEORGE WASHINGTON, THOMAS JEFFERSON, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, ALEXANDER HAMILTON, ANDREW JACKSON, ULYSSES GRANT and BENJAMIN FRANKLIN for the 1 dollar, 2s, 5s, 10s, 20s, 50s and 100s, respectively. And while I am not American, I am quite familiar with but it seems that for the 500s, 1000s, 5000s, 10,000s and 100,000s, very few US citizens are aware that WILLIAM McKINLEY, GROVER CLEVELAND, JAMES MADISON, SALMON CHASE, WOODROW WILSON, respectively, are portrayed in said bills. This was not surprising because some US citizens actually don’t get the chance to see these bills in their lifetime. For the Philippine Piso bills, the ones depicted are MANUEL L. QUEZON, SERGIO OSMENA, MANUEL ROXAS, DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL, NINOY AQUINO, for the 20s, 50s, 100s, 200s and 500 Piso bills, respectively. For the 1000 Piso bills, there are three persons depicted namely JOSEFA LLANES ESCODA, JOSE ABAD SANTOS, and VICENTE LIM. As if you don’t know.

For the security features, a closer look at the bills disclose that the eyes on the portrait are life-like, and seem to sparkle when scrutinized whereas the shadings are formed by very fine lines, a testament to the intricacy involved in the drawing thereof.

As with other security papers like land titles and treasury notes, a Philippine Piso contains a watermark found on the unprinted portion of the note in the form of a silhouette of the Person portrayed thereat. When viewed against the light, the silhouette appears clearly although it is normally smaller in size than the portrait printed conspicuously on the note.

Meanwhile, security fibers are tiny red and blue fibers which are embedded and scattered all over the note and mixed into the paper during manufacture. While in the naked eye, the fibers appear to have been printed, when the note is placed under the microscope, they (fibers) are mere flat impressions caused by the ink. This feature cannot be duplicated by any printer available in the market today.

The other security features of the Philippine Piso have something to do with special threads incorporated into the note upon manufacture.

Philippine Piso notes, depending on value have Security threads embedded into them, specifically, implanted vertically off center of the note and clearly visible when viewed against the light. The security thread for the 20 Piso bill is a broken line whereas the other notes such as the 50’s, 100’s, 200’s, 500’s and 1000’s come in a straight line.

The other thread is what is known as the Windowed Security Thread. Unlike the first one discussed, this one is clearly seen in the note as the vertical line which resembles stitches where a text of the numerical value of the note is printed in a very small size. When the note is moved, the thread changes its color from magenta to green or vice versa. As this is very conspicuous, there have been times that some people have managed to pull out the windowed security thread from the note.

Finally, in the threads department, there is the Iridescent Band. This is the gold vertical stripe wider in size than the two security threads combined. Like the Windowed Security Thread, a numerical value printed in series is found on the band.

Meanwhile, the background/ lacework design of every Philippine Piso is made up of multicolored and well-defined web-crisscrossing lines. The said lines are intricately printed and somewhat embossed unlike that in the counterfeit bills which impressions are flat having been made using ordinary inkjet or offset printers.

Depending on the type of bill, there appears a microprint of the names of the government structure as depicted thereon. The microprints are very small that to clearly view them would take the use of a microscope. Take the case of the 50 Philippine Piso, a drawing of the “Gusali ng Pambansang Museo at the back would have a microprint of the said structure, whereas the 100 and 200 Piso bills would have the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, thus the microprint of the said structure. Having been renamed to Central Bank of the Philippines, the 500 and 1000 Piso bills, being the last ones designed and brought to circulation have the microprint of the name of the said government structure. More than the microprinting, every Philippine Piso has an invisible numerical value of the note printed using fluorescent which becomes visible and glows when the same is exposed under ultra-violet light.

Finally, at the bottom right portion of the 500 Piso bill is a concealed value which is not visible through the naked eye. Of all the Philippine notes, the 1000 Piso bill has the most unique feature called the Optically Variable Ink printed at its numerical value at the bottom right portion which changes color from blue to green or green to blue when the note is held at different angles.

Back to GERALD and ANGIE.

ANGIE was furious for who would not be as they have seen that not among the cash examined in the stores they visited indicated the presence of fake Baht. Other than that, the bill that was supposedly paid to the victim was an old worn out bill compared to the crisp ones that they got from the airport as evidenced by a receipt from the Money Exchange. As if such was not enough, ANGIE brought out from her bag a stash of 100 US dollars and a fistful more of Philippine Piso which have not been exchanged to Baht as if wanting to send the message “WE ARE RICH” and “YOU ARE BARKING AT THE WRONG TREE”. Finally, as an icing on the cake, GERALD went on to introduce himself as a ranking officer from the country they came from and mentioned of a two-month special supervisors course he took years back in Bangkok which somehow rang a bell on the highest ranking police officer on the site. He added that if they were using fake money, they were certainly not foolish to stay for hours in the mall and hop from one shop to another but instead take the first chance to escape after using the counterfeit bill.

The police officers and the guards regrouped and discussed their findings but since GERALD and ANGIE did not understand a thing or two from what they said, they demanded from the team leader that they speak in English. It did not take long and the team leader said that on behalf of the group and the management of the mall, they would like to express their sincerest apologies for suspecting the two of having used the fake money. And as if the apologies were not enough, the group, in sync clasped their hands and bowed to GERALD and ANGIE.

“Please shop some more” the group said in unison. But GERALD and ANGIE knew better and hurriedly left the mall, hailed a taxi and laughed on this unique experience on the way back to the hotel.

See you next time.