Security clampdown on the home PC banknote forgers

[R. A. Hettinga]

<http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4940746-102285,00.html>

 Observer

Security clampdown on the home PC banknote forgers

Banks win EU support for software blocks to tackle the cottage counterfeiters
Tony Thompson, crime correspondent
Sunday June 6, 2004

The Observer
Computer and software manufacturers are to be forced to introduce new
security measures to make it impossible for their products to be used to
copy banknotes.

 The move, to be drafted into European Union legislation by the year end,
follows a surge in counterfeit currency produced using laser printers, home
scanners and graphics software. Imaging software and printers have become
so powerful and affordable that production of fake banknotes has become a
booming cottage industry.

 Though counterfeiters are usually unable to source the specialist paper on
which genuine banknotes are printed, many are being mixed in with genuine
notes in high volume batches. The copies are often good enough to fool
vending machines. By using a fake £20 note to purchase a £2 rail fare, the
criminal can take away £18 in genuine change.

 Although the Bank of England refuses to issue figures for the number of
counterfeit notes in circulation and insists they represent a negligible
fraction of notes issued, it also admits fakes are on the increase.

 Anti-counterfeiting software developed by the Central Bank Counterfeit
Deterrence Group, an organisation of 27 leading world banks including the
Bank of England, has been distributed free of charge to computer and
software manufacturers since the beginning of the year. At present use of
the software is voluntary though several companies have incorporated it
into their products.

 The latest version of Adobe Photoshop, a popular graphics package,
generates an error message if the user attempts to scan banknotes of main
currencies. A number of printer manufactures have also incorporated the
software so that only an inch or so of a banknote will reproduce, to be
followed by the web address of a site displaying regulations governing the
reproduction of money.

 The software relies on features built into leading currencies. Latest
banknotes contain a pattern of five tiny circles. On the £20 note, they're
disguised as a musical notation, on the euro they appear in a constellation
of stars; on the new $20 note, the pattern is hidden in the zeros of a
background pattern. Imaging software or devices detect the pattern and
refuse to deal with the image.

 Certain colour copiers now come loaded with software that detects when a
banknote has been placed on the glass, and refuses to make a copy or
produces a blank sheet.

 Researchers at Hewlett Packard are to introduce technology that would
allow printers to detect colours similar to those used in currency. The
printer will automatically alter the colour so that the difference between
the final product and a genuine banknote will be easily detectable by the
naked eye.

 Adobe acted after it emerged that several counterfeiting gangs had used
Photoshop to manipulate and enhance images. The security feature, which is
not mentioned in any product documentation, has outraged users who say it
could interfere with genuine artistic projects. There were also concerns
that the software would automatically report duplication attempts to the
software company or police via the internet.

 A spokesman for the National Criminal Intelligence Service said criminals
traditionally used offset lithographic printing for counterfeiting.
'Developments in electrostatic photocopying equipment, together with
advances in computer and reprographic technology, have led to a rise in the
proportion of counterfeit notes produced in a domestic environment. The use
of this technology generally results in a lower quality counterfeit,
although this varies according to the skill of the counterfeiter and the
equipment and techniques used.'

 Although some countries, most notably America, allow reproduction of
banknotes for artistic purposes if they are either significantly larger or
smaller than the real thing, in the UK it is a criminal offence to
reproduce 'on any substance whatsoever, and whether or not on the correct
scale', any part of any Bank of England banknote.
 Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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