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20.658 counterfeit banknotes were reported in Guayaquil in 10 months
Posted On 14 Dec 2015
The use of a device that emits a sound when it detects an anomaly in the safety line of a bill or to punch it are some of the reactions before the appearance of counterfeit banknotes.A concrete figure of the number of counterfeit notes detected in the commercial sector does not exist, however, the Central Bank of Ecuador states that 20.658 counterfeit bills were reported by the financial system in Guayaquil between January and October this year. In 2014, in the city, counterfeit bills totaled 27.459.
According to the BCE (Central Bank of Ecuador for its Spanish acronym), the majority of counterfeit bills correspond to low denominations ($20).
Wellington Boni, of the Prosecution Specialized in Transnational and International Organized Crime, says that counterfeit bills are manufactured in Colombia and would enter by land to Ecuador. “They usually try to insert them in commercial premises, because the financial system hasobviously a prepared staff,” said the Prosecutor.
He explains that behind counterfeiting there is an illegal business: putting these banknotes into circulation generates a gain. “I have heard thatthere are bills bought with a 50% discount of the manufacturing cost,” says Boni.
The BCE has given this year 102 workshops in the coastal region to help individuals, companies and financial institutions to recognize the authenticity of banknotes.
Telmo Erazo, head of the Forensic Laboratory of the Police, indicates that, at least, there are three ways to detect a counterfeit: the texture of the paper, the security line inside the paper, and the watermark, which carries the effigy with the faces of figures of the American history.
Source: http://expreso.ec/expreso/plantillas/nota.aspx?idart=8739951&idcat=38229&tipo=2
