The Red Deer Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Central Alberta have been dealing with cases of counterfeit dollar bills since the end of June. The counterfeit money has been used in 40 different establishments, including restaurants, gas stations, casinos, and even banks.
Before Canada changed its currency to a polymer note in 2011, it was one of the most forged. The Globe and Mail reported that at one time, for every one million legitimate notes in circulation, there were 470 counterfeit. While this accounts for an extremely small fraction of money in circulation, in the eyes of the G20 — an international committee made up of 20 major global economies — this number was hardly negligible.
Banks have seen a 74% decrease in counterfeit bills as of last year. But as seen in Red Deer, that won’t keep some people from trying to replicate the hologram-secured notes.
Fraud-fighter machines have been produced to detect counterfeit money with a specially-abled high quality scanners that uses infrared, ultraviolet, watermark and magnetic detection to produce images of bank currency with details that are not seen by the naked eye. These machines, not only used by banks, can be used by retailers, gas stations, casinos, restaurants, bars, and other cash-collecting businesses that risk losing money by accepting fake bills. Many of these scanners also function as ID and cheque scanners to detect other forms of fraudulent documentation.
The majority of counterfeiters are not purchasing expensive products with fake bills, but purchasing small items with large, counterfeit bills in exchange for legitimate treasury-issued change. In this instance, a business may sacrifice a large portion of its profits if the bank notes are not verified.
Human error is a huge cause of miscounted and mishandled cash among businesses, which is why companies have also created currency counter machines. Bills are usually counted by hand multiple times to catch any errors. By switching to a machine-based system, the retailer or business-owner will find a cash management solution that can ensure 100% accuracy.
Currency counter machines extend to both sorting cash and coins based on denomination and counting the physical number of bills and coins. This saves the company not only time, but also labour costs associated with hiring positions to manage monetary gains or keep retail workers on the clock.
These cash management solutions are available for any business, regardless of how large or small, and can be a valuable addition to your practice.