Counterfeit notes have flooded the city and banks do not know how to control the chaotic situation in hand
Counterfeit notes have flooded the city and banks do not know how to control the chaotic situation in hand
The next time you handle a five hundred-rupee note, take caution, it might just be a fake.
With an increase in counterfeited notes flooding the markets, banks have been pushed into overdrive in maintaining and getting rid of these fake currency notes.
"We are just not able to detect all the fake notes through these machines anymore, earlier, our cash tellers would be able to catch a fake note with the naked eye but now, the counterfeiting is so good, we're having trouble spotting the fakes," said Manju Verma, a manager at Punjab & Sind Bank. 
Different strokes
"We get rid of them by tearing them, so that they do not, by any chance get into circulation again. At times, we are in a tricky situation when the customer has deposited the money and the bank has to bear the deficit," Manju added.
It has become far too common these days
"There is a sound system to deal with this issue and all the guidelines have been exhibited. When we get fake notes, we first enquire from the customer the source of this currency and then we note down details and send it to the RBI. All the fake notes are immediately destroyed," said a senior officer from Corporation Bank, who did not wish to be named.
SBI Branch Manager, Richmond Town, Nayak S M said, "On receiving counterfeit notes, we write 'fake' on them, hand an acknowledgement to the customer and finally inform the RBI and the Police."
"A forged seal is placed on the note and then we punch it so that the note cannot be used again. But, according to rules, we need to file an FIR with the police but we rarely do that," said Prasanna, a cashier with IDBI Bank on Mission Road.
In the job for almost a year now, he said, "there has been an increase in the fake notes the branch gets everyday. Earlier it was just the five hundred-rupee denominations but now the one thousand-rupee fake notes have also become common," he added.
Fake from real?
Cashiers, due to their continuous work with currency notes have developed the ability to detect a fake note by just looking at it. "All it needs is a good look and feel of the note," said Prasanna.
"Every bank keeps a fake currency detector but we also have a currency sorter that has the dual capacity to sort notes on the basis of real and fake," he added.
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