Taxi drivers, city residents alerted of fake banknotes

BANGKOK: -- The FM91 traffic station Monday warned the public about strangers passing fake banknotes.

Radio station executive Jaiton Sriwangpol said the 1644 hotline had received 57 complaints from August 1-January 31.

Of the total victims, 50 were taxi drivers, three were taxi passengers and four gas station employees.

The bogus bills came in denominations of Bt20, Bt50, Bt100 and Bt1,000.

She urged the public to be on the alert and take time to check the banknotes given to them.

Once people accepted the counterfeits it was hard to trace the tricksters.

-- The Nation 2010-02-08

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Come on The Nation. Normally, there are unique identifiers found on counterfeit bills which help us identify them, such as a duplicated serial numbers or a missing watermark for example. Just telling us to "be careful for counterfeit money" really does us little good. How was it discovered they were counterfeit?

When I took a counterfeit course from the US Secret Service some years ago, I found it very interesting that there is a certain percent of 100USD bills in circulation that are so good they are indistinguishable from the real thing. Even the hidden tell tales the US Treasury doesn't tell us about are duplicated to perfection.

Those are mostly printed in Iran, by the state, using US made and legally imported presses, so yeah it doesn't surprise me that they are pretty good fakes...

Those are mostly printed in Iran, by the state, using US made and legally imported presses, so yeah it doesn't surprise me that they are pretty good fakes...

That doesn't sound particularly feasable.

Those are mostly printed in Iran, by the state, using US made and legally imported presses, so yeah it doesn't surprise me that they are pretty good fakes...

That doesn't sound particularly feasable.

Off topic, but the Shan was given a dollar print-press (way before he was overthrown by the muslim radicals and clerics in -79) by the CIA.

http://www.curezone.com/forums/fmp.asp?i=1521025 etc

The bogus bills came in denominations of Bt20, Bt50, Bt100 and Bt1,000.

At least we're still OK with 500 Baht notes then.

Those are mostly printed in Iran, by the state, using US made and legally imported presses, so yeah it doesn't surprise me that they are pretty good fakes...

IRAN? problem solved

So how do I detect a dodgy note. I'm not an expert!

Come on, who would forge a 20-baht note? 1000B, 500B might be worth the trouble, but 20B?

Dodgy story right there.

Those are mostly printed in Iran, by the state, using US made and legally imported presses, so yeah it doesn't surprise me that they are pretty good fakes...

Nort Korea prints the best fakes.

Come on, who would forge a 20-baht note? 1000B, 500B might be worth the trouble, but 20B?

Dodgy story right there.

i got fake pound coins once.

Those are mostly printed in Iran, by the state, using US made and legally imported presses, so yeah it doesn't surprise me that they are pretty good fakes...

That doesn't sound particularly feasable.

Off topic, but the Shan was given a dollar print-press (way before he was overthrown by the muslim radicals and clerics in -79) by the CIA.

http://www.curezone.com/forums/fmp.asp?i=1521025 etc

Is that a fact?

Come on, who would forge a 20-baht note? 1000B, 500B might be worth the trouble, but 20B?

Dodgy story right there.

Who needs a large supply of 20 baht notes? Maybe elections are nearer than we've been told.

Come on, who would forge a 20-baht note? 1000B, 500B might be worth the trouble, but 20B?

Dodgy story right there.

Just because nobody give a dam_n about a twenty... that's the way to do it... apparently, you are not in the business

Easy to tell the difference

If is says "1000 Thai BATH" on it

The you are about to be taken to the cleaners

Just because nobody give a dam_n about a twenty... that's the way to do it... apparently, you are not in the business

Crims don't think that way -- at heart, they are lazy, always go for the bigger score.

Just because nobody give a dam_n about a twenty... that's the way to do it... apparently, you are not in the business

Crims don't think that way -- at heart, they are lazy, always go for the bigger score.

You'd be surprised.

Those are mostly printed in Iran, by the state, using US made and legally imported presses, so yeah it doesn't surprise me that they are pretty good fakes...

That doesn't sound particularly feasable.

Off topic, but the Shan was given a dollar print-press (way before he was overthrown by the muslim radicals and clerics in -79) by the CIA.

http://www.curezone.com/forums/fmp.asp?i=1521025 etc

Is that a fact?

Fact or not, the Americans and the British usually get blamed for everything.

Best to stick with the trusty old purple persuader

Easy to tell the difference

If is says "1000 Thai BATH" on it

The you are about to be taken to the cleaners

I don't accept 1000 baht notes from anything except a bank ATM. So in theory that clears one major hurdle. I'd be most worried about getting bogus 100 baht notes in change, and then using them later on for other things. Then again, since I'm no counterfeiter and have no criminal record, I'd hopefully get leniency if ever I am a victim of circumstances.

As for the bogus US currency in circulation, the Treasury is printing $100 notes so fast, the currency is being devalued to the point to where they may one day be worth little more than fakes.

"Radio station executive Jaiton Sriwangpol said the 1644 hotline had received 57 complaints from August 1-January 31"

So that is 57 fakes discovered in 6 months - 10 per month for a population of 60+ million???

Staggering.....the end of civilisation as we know it.

I would think that it would be better to fake the 20B notes as nobody would bother to check them... (It's only 20B)...

BANGKOK: -- The FM91 traffic station Monday warned the public about strangers passing fake banknotes

as opposed to your relatives that are just being overtly kind to you when they give you a 100b for smiling at them.

BANGKOK: -- The FM91 traffic station Monday warned the public about strangers passing fake banknotes

does strangers mean foreigners....

BANGKOK: -- The FM91 traffic station Monday warned the public about strangers passing fake banknotes

does strangers mean foreigners....

Normally such a generalisation would be accurate but this time around I think they erred and meant people you don't know, Thai, farang or others.

I don't accept 1000 baht notes from anything except a bank ATM. So in theory that clears one major hurdle.

During the last 'scare' when nobody would accept 1000 bht notes I withdrew 20,000 from the ATM in plain view of the teller at the Kasikon bank inside Lotus and asked her to change them to smaller denominations then waited while she examined each and every note.

BANGKOK: -- The FM91 traffic station Monday warned the public about strangers passing fake banknotes

On which streets are they handing out free money?

Those are mostly printed in Iran, by the state, using US made and legally imported presses, so yeah it doesn't surprise me that they are pretty good fakes...

Having the printing press isn't the most important part, having the correct plates is.

So how do I detect a dodgy note. I'm not an expert!

Within the last year, there was another thread here on Thaivisa.com regarding an 'outbreak' of fake B1,000 notes. You may be able to search for that thread and get some good info. Below, I have pasted what I saved for myself from a couple of the posts of that previous thread. It's in two parts, the top being from a news report and the bottom, (below the ---- line), being from a Thaivisa member. Also, I remember in that thread, there was a post by someone who had gotten a fake B1,000 note from an ATM somewhere outside of Bangkok, (I can't remember where it was). A teller at a bank near where I stay showed me a fake B1,000 note that she had mistakenly accepted at the bank. The fake note looked quite good and I could understand how even a bank teller could be fooled, if they didn't scrutinize the note. She showed me that on the note's reverse, some of the printing that is done in brown ink on the real notes was a shade of gray/black on the fake note. The water mark on the fake was very well done. I didn't have a magnifying glass at the time, so I couldn't check the metalic strip, (now I always have a small 15 power glass on me). I can't remember if there was a hologram strip on the fake note, or if it was an earlier generation note. Also, the metalic strip on a real note is 'woven' through the note and this is clearly evident under magnification, (the denomination is printed on the strip in tiny characters as well). Here is the info from the previous thread:

QUOTE

Somchai Setkornnukool, a senior director at the Bank of Thailand's Northeast Branch, explained that people would be able to distinguish fake from authentic banknotes based on proper guidelines.

"Feel the word 'Thai Government' [which is printed in Thai] and you will find it is embossed on the banknote if it is authentic," Somchai said.

He added that when the banknote was held against the light, a watermark of His Majesty the King's portrait would become clearly visible.

"Moreover, if you notice, you will see small translucent numerals and letters indicating the value of the banknotes on the metallic colour thread too," Somchai said.

When tilted, the numerals showing the values of each Bt500 and Bt1000 banknotes also change their colour when viewed at different angles.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The metal thread is darned near impossible to reproduce the same,

The water marks quite hard, but not impossible.

The embossing of letters easy enough, but takes a very good press.

The directional ink printing of numbers is top end stuff. Very hard to do.

The hologram strip pretty much impossible.

The total in combination is beyond all but another governments abilities in general.

Which of course doesn't mean 'another regional government' isn't trying to by goods and services here

by under mining the Thai economy with higher end counterfeits.... supposition, not rumor here....

It would likely depend on the quality of the bills. and seems unlikely.

All in all, if you have a good bill questioned, a farang would have enough info from this

to get a proper comparison in front of many vendors.

In any case count your money takes on a new meaning.

Edited February 9, 201016 yr by siamiam

I understand they were all found in the SCB.

39 billion of them.

Maybe the yellowshirts got in first.