Increasing Counterfeit Notes

An excellent copying tool such as computer scanners are becoming more popular, cases of counterfeit notes are rapidly increasing since the middle of the 1990's.
According to the Bank of Korea(BOK)'s announcement on March 6, there were 68 counterfeit note cases last year,and the number of counterfeit notes confiscated was 1,377. Counterfeit note cases didn't increase that rapidly from 1991(9cases) to 1996(13cases). However,since then, cases have increased rapidly from 35 cases in 1997 to 66 cases in 1998. This year,there was 14 counterfeit note cases for the month of January.and the number of counterfeit notes confiscated was 81.
But these statistics come from cases that are accidentally discovered or reported by memebers of the public. Accordingly, BOK assumes that the actual number of counterfeit notes circulated in the market is greater than these formal statistics.
As for the copying methods,the number of counterfeit notes copied by computer scanners is by far the largest at 1,334 notes,which represents 96.9 percent of total counterfeit notes confiscated.In addition,the number of counterfeit notes copied by color copying machines is 40 notes(2.9percent) and that by black and white copying machines is only 2.
A source from BOK said, "The counterfeit notes copied by computer scanners are difficult to tell from genuine notes,but if one illuminates counterfeit notes,the hidden picture which should be in a genuine note will not appear.In addtion,one can tell counterfeit notes from genuine ones by touching them, because only genuine notes are uneven."

by Lim Bong-sone