Since the introduction of the new polymer banknotes in December last year, there have been no counterfeits presented to the Central Bank, the financial institution said on Tuesday after a video circulating on social media suggested that fake currency was in circulation.
However, it did acknowledge that duplicating the new banknotes is not impossible.
The Central Bank made the comments in response to a video making the rounds on social media, in which it was purported that a $10 note was counterfeit because some images and writing on it were missing.
Two men can be heard in the 30-second video comparing two $10 notes, with one of them saying “the $10 [sign in the top left corner] disappear”, as he pointed to the money. The other can be heard saying it seemed the image on the back of the note has been “washed out”.
“Barbados, the people strike already, you hear? Wunnuh tell wunnuh self this money here can’t be duplicated, huh?” one of the men said at the end of the video.
The Central Bank said in a statement issued on Tuesday that while it could neither confirm nor deny that the banknote in question was counterfeit without examining it, the missing features on the currency may have been a result of the money coming into contact with a harsh chemical.
“The Central Bank of Barbados is aware of images and videos circulating on social media over the past few weeks purporting to show counterfeit polymer Barbadian banknotes.
“While the Bank will not confirm the authenticity of any banknote without first having examined it in person, some of the security features found on genuine Barbadian polymer notes, such as the transparent window, are visible in the images. Rather, the notes appear to have come into contact with a harsh chemical that removed some of the ink,” it explained.
“The Bank confirms that to date, it has received no fake notes from the 2022 polymer banknote series, but reminds the public that the notes are not impossible to counterfeit. It therefore encourages people to continue to check their money using the security features incorporated in them,” it added.
Those features include a transparent window near the bottom of the note; an image embedded in the window that catches the light on lower denominations (the $2, $5, and $10) and changes colour on higher denominations (the $20, $50, and $100); a note’s denomination appearing in the patterned broken trident on the top right of the note when it is held up to the light; and a raised shape at the back of the note beneath the large denomination numeral.
Anyone with suspected counterfeit banknotes is encouraged to take them to a commercial bank or to the Central Bank of Barbados.
Last month, Barbados’ 2022 banknotes were named Best New Series at Reconnaissance International’s Regional Banknote and ID Document of the Year Awards, which took place during the 2023 High Security Printing Latin America conference in Nassau, The Bahamas.
The new notes are the first generation of Barbadian banknotes printed on polymer, a plastic substrate that, in addition to being more durable, allows banknote manufacturers to include stronger and more intuitive security features such as transparent windows. The Central Bank says that such features make the notes harder to duplicate but easier to authenticate.
(PR/MM)
Read our ePaper. Fast. Factual. Free.
Sign up and stay up to date with Barbados' FREE latest news.
Barbados Today firmly discourages any commentary or statements that are libelous, disruptive in nature or incites others to violate our Terms of Use. Any submissions made on our comment section, are solely the views of the individual and not Barbados Today.