Flood of Counterfeits: Ukrainians Told How to Tell Genuine Hryvnia from Fakes

Flood of counterfeit bills: Ukrainians told how to tell genuine hryvnia from counterfeit ones

The National Bank information campaign aimed at increasing the security of cash payments finally officially launched. At the briefing dedicated to the project launch, Oleksiy Shaban, deputy head of the state regulator, spoke about the timelines and scale of the initiative.

Thus, the new campaign Anatomy of the Hryvnia is designed to broaden citizens’ knowledge of the main distinguishing features of the national currency and teach them to quickly verify the authenticity of banknotes. According to the NBU press service, trainings will take place in all regions of Ukraine and will continue until October of this year.

The NBU was forced to start the information project due to the increase in the number of counterfeit money in Ukraine. Currently, 1 million banknotes with at least 5,5 copies are fakes. And although this figure is three times smaller compared to the Euro’s corresponding statistics, the state bank could not leave the situation to chance.

It is worth noting that many counterfeits in Ukraine are of fairly low quality. They are printed on ordinary printers and are mainly aimed at inattentive citizens. Yet the Ukrainians are being taught to distinguish even the most exact copies of the national currency from the real one. Also during the campaign, all willing participants will learn where to exchange banknotes that have exited circulation and what to do with suspicious notes.

During trainings, all necessary information about the security features of state money will be provided to cashiers of banks, post offices, pharmacies, gas stations, etc. The rest of the citizens will be able to visit the special Anatomy of the Hryvnia website, which also contains all necessary, and most importantly, up-to-date information to help protect cash payments.

The NBU assures that to distinguish a counterfeit from a genuine note you do not need to be a professional banker. One should simply follow the following verification algorithm:

by touch – the banknote feels tactilely different from ordinary paper and also has a relief on the front side;

by light – you can see watermarks, such as the portrait of an eminent person, or the denomination;

at an angle – the direction of movement of the image on the ribbon changes, a kinetic effect will be noticeable.