Chemistry of Anti-money Counterfeiting Technology Essay

I. Abstract Counterfeiting money is a big business for criminals. Nearly $70 million of fake currency gets used daily, costing consumers millions. In the present day, there are many new technologies that have been discovered and studied in order to help put counterfeiters out of business. Our currency is something that we must protect, which is why these technologies and discoveries are very important in the safety and development of our economy. The new generation of Philippine banknotes includes new and more advanced technology to ensure the safety of the genuine Philippine banknotes. This is to prevent money counterfeiting in our country. These new features include more advanced photo editing, which features micro printing on the different images and texts on the banknotes, a unique rough texture, a new system of serial numbering, advanced security fibers and security threads, watermark technology, and optically variable ink. These are the most advanced and efficient methods of preventing mon ey counterfeiting today. Provided in this paper is a detailed explanation and description of each security precaution and a detailed review of the methods used to execute them. II. Denominations of Currency The new generation Philippine banknotes composes of the denominations twenty, fifty, one hundred, two hundred, five hundred, and one thousand peso bills. The new twenty-piso bill honors President Manuel L. Quezon, the first President of the Republic of the Philippines on the front of the bill while the reverse shows the image of the breathtaking Banaue Rice Teraces and the Palm Civet from the Cordilleras. The fifty-piso bill commemorates President Sergio Osmeà ±a who led our country at the critical stage of World War II. The reverse shows an image of the Taal Lake, one of the world’s smallest active volcanoes and the Maliputo Fish. The one hundred-piso bill pays tribute to President Manuel Roxas who prioritized the crafting of the Central Bank charter then provided the leadership for the reconstruction of our country after the devastation of the Second World War. On the reverse, the near perfect cone-shaped Mayon Volcano and the Butanding or Whale Shark is also featured. The two hundred-piso bill features President Diosdado Macapagal who restored the celebration of Philippine independence on June 12. The reverse features the unique icon of Bohol, the Chocolate Hills and the Tarsier. The five hundred-piso bill is a salute to the champions of Philippine democracy, Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. and President Corazon Aquino. The reverse features the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park. Finally, the one thousand-piso bill features three of our war heroes, Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos, Josefa Llanes Escoda, and General Vicente P. Lim. The reverse features the Tubbataha Reefs National Marine Park and the world famous South Sea Pearl. Figure 1 The money denominations come in specific color schemes of orange for the twenty-piso bill, red for the fifty-piso bill, violet for the one hundred-piso bill, green for the two hundred-piso bill, yellow for the five hundred-piso bill, and blue for the one thousand-piso bill. III. Security Features The Philippine Banknote or the Philippine Peso Bill finds the need to be current with the use of new technology to enhance the security of banknotes to remain impossible to replicate by criminals. The new generation Philippine banknotes incorporates the latest available technology in banknote security. This is the reason that they have developed new designs and upgraded the security features of all our banknotes. A. Photo Editing The Central bank of the Philippines uses a special photo editing software to ensure specific prints that are impossible to copy by criminals. Some of these specifications include nano prints on the images, lines, and words on the banknotes. B. Texture The note is not smooth to the touch, but a bit rough. This is because the bank notes are made of 80% cotton and 20% Philippine Abaca. Aside from that, the raised prints that are embossing from the Intaglio printing process give the bill a unique tactile feel. Intaglio printing is a printing technique in which the image is incised into a surface. Normally, copper (Cu) or zinc (Zn) are used, and the incisions are created by etching ot engraving the image. In printing, the surface is covered in ink and then rubbed vigourously with tartalan cloth or newspaper to remove ink from the surface, leaving it in theincisions. The very sharp printing obtained from the intaglio process is hard to imitate by other means. Intaglio also allows for the creation of latent images, which are only visible when the document is viewed at a very shallow angle. Figure 2 C. Serial Numbers The serial numbers are composed of one or two prefix letters and six to seven digits in asymmetric or increasing size. Serial numbers are not difficult to forge; yet they make banknotes easier to track and audit. Figure 3 D. Security Fibers The paper used to print our currency has tiny threads of fibers embedded into the paper. These red and blue fibers glow under ultraviolet light. If the bill has no red and blue fibers that glow, then it is probably a fake bill. Fluorescent marks are the invisible phosphor dyes on banknotes that glow under UV or blacklight. This glow will be visible under a money detector device. There are two kinds of security fibers. The first one is the visible security fibers. These are easily seen in current Philippine banknotes as the blue and red fibers that are randomly spread throughout the front and back of the paper. The other kind is the invisible security fiber. These glow a fluorescent yellow under ultraviolet light. Genuine security fibers in Philippine banknotes can be easily plucked out (yes, try it!) with the aid of a needle. Counterfeit money usually only prints the fibers on paper, thus they cannot be plucked out. Figure 4 E. Watermarks The watermark shows a shadowed image of the portrait and the banknotes’ denomination on the blank space when viewed against the light from either side of the bill. This is possible due to paper density variations. Figure 5 The word â€Å"Pilipino†, written in our ancient Filipino alphabet, Baybayin, can be seen in its complete form when the banknote is viewed against the light. F. Concealed Value When the banknote is rotated at a 45-degree angle and tilted downwards, we can see the concealed denominational value super imposed on the smaller version of the portrait. Figure 7 G. Security Threads Both the twenty-piso and the fifty-piso have a 2mm wide security thread that can be visible when viewed against the light. The one hundred, two hundred, five hundred, and one thousand-piso bills have a 4mm wide stich-like security thread embedded on the bill and when viewed from different angles, its color changes from red to green. The embedded security thread is a special thread vertically implanted off center of the note during the manufacture of the banknote paper. The front of the thread carries a clear text – the initials of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the numeric denomination of the bank note. The back of the thread is also printed with the initials BSP. There are two kinds of security threads. One is a thin aluminum (Al) coated and partly demutualized polyester film thread with microprinting, which is embedded in the security paper as banknote or passport paper. The other kind of security thread is the single or multicolor sewing thread made from cotton or synthetic fibers, mostly UV fluorescent, for the bookbinding of passport booklets. Figure 8 H. Optically Variable Device Patch The five hundred-piso bill and the one thousand-piso bill have the optically variable device patch, a reflective foil. For the five hundred-piso bill, it reveals the small BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) logo and the blue parrot, while the one thousand-piso bill reveals the small BSP logo and the South Sea Pearl inside a clam. The patches change color from red to green when the note is rotated 90-degrees. Figure 9 I. Optically Variable Ink A security feature exclusive to the one thousand-piso note is the optically variable ink for the embossed denomination value on the lower right corner on the face of the banknote, which changes color from green to blue when it is viewed in different angles. Color changing inks are inks containing pearlescent pigments that change color when viewed at a different angle. The color of the ink does not actually change, but the angle of the light to the viewer’s eye changes and thus creates the change in color. A number of types are available, including green to purple, gold to green and green to lilac. Optically variable inks (OVI) are very expensive inks applied on banknotes as a security feature. So far, only the 1000 peso bills have this. There are two versions of OVI printing on the 1000 peso banknotes. This is an excellent security feature because counterfeiters will need a lot of effort and money to replicate it. They are called optically variable inks because tiny flakes of color-shifting film are incorporated in the intaglio ink. Thus, prints of OVI change color when viewed from different angles.