Banknotes are crucial in our daily lives. Even with modern technologies upgrading every day, we still need at least some banknotes in our wallets for some purposes.
Only recently, there has been a case about counterfeit banknotes. In rare cases, even an automated teller machine can give us counterfeit banknotes. They do not have any value as they are the reproduction of real banknotes using low-quality materials.
By looking at a counterfeit banknote once, we could not guess that it is fake, as it looks similar to the real one. That explains why some public is deceived by it.
Thus, to make sure that the banknote that we own is genuine, we have to check it by applying the ‘Feel, Look, Tilt, Check.’
Feel
- Feel the quality of the banknote.
- The banknote is made of paper. The paper should be rough with raised print effect on the portrait of Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the texts.
- Furthermore, there is another type of banknote which is made of special plastic (polymer). A polymer banknote should also have raised print effect on the portrait and texts.
Look
- Look at your banknote against white light.
- A 3-dimensional watermark portrait will appear.
- Aside from that, a continuous dark-colored line of security thread will also be seen.
Tilt
- Tilt one side of the banknote.
- Observe the image and the colour change at the security thread and coloured glossy patch.
Check
- Use a magnifying glass or a UV light device.
- Magnifying glass: micro-letterings will be visible.
- UV light device: the paper substrate will not glow except for selected security features.
Source: Bank Negara Malaysia