VIII Meeting of Experts on Combating Counterfeiting of Currency

VIII Meeting of Experts on Combating Counterfeiting of Currency sponsored by the Center for Latin American Monetary Studies (CEMLA), held in Mexico City on May 19, 2023.

Opening of the VIII Meeting of Experts on Combating Counterfeiting Currency, 19 May 2023

Roberto Marino, Advisor to the Director General of CEMLA and Alejandro Alegre, Director of Issuance of Banco de México, welcomed participants from various regions of the world such as Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia to the VIII Meeting of Experts on Combating Counterfeiting of Currency.

They commented that the large participation in this meeting denotes the growing interest in the subject in the various areas that make up the central banks and also highlights the benefits of holding this type of meetings in the hybrid format, which allows participants in person, as well as through electronic means.

They stressed that the speakers at this meeting would share the experiences of their countries around different topics of interest, among which they highlighted: the novelties identified in the last three years with respect to the techniques used by counterfeiters, the repression of counterfeiters, the impact of adequate training for the timely detection of counterfeiting activities and international statistics on counterfeiting and the impact of the pandemic, among others.

They pointed out that counterfeiting has a great impact on society, such as  the financial impact that individuals or companies assume by receiving fake money that can be significant, which can seriously undermine public confidence in the currency.

They highlighted the importance of cooperation between central banks and the need for joint work in the fight against currency counterfeiting. They also commented that it is essential to highlight the need for investment in counterfeit deterrence activities, including research and development of new security measures, and in counterfeit analysis centers.

Presentations of the general situation of counterfeiting in their countries and developments in the techniques used by counterfeiters (first block of countries)

Beatriz García Bardera, Head of the Technical Cash Division, Bank of Spain presented the situation of banknote counterfeiting in Spain. She commented on counterfeit euro banknotes withdrawn from circulation in Spain and the quality of counterfeits, presented a classification of counterfeits by type of printing and also commented on the trend of counterfeit euro coins withdrawn from circulation.

Yvonne de Lint, Currency, Deputy Managing Director, Bank of Canada, presented the Bank of Canada's strategy to keep counterfeiting levels low.  Stressing that the Bank of Canada's responsibility is to maintain confidence in its currency, she shared with the audience the history of currency counterfeiting in Canada since 2004 when it was the worst year and the advances since then. She outlined the best strategy to reduce counterfeiting, which is to collaborate with law enforcement agencies and educate the public.

Alejandro Alegre, Director of Issuance of the Bank of Mexico, commented on the figures of banknotes in circulation in Mexico (8,000 million banknotes and 44,000 billion coins), and the target of counterfeit pieces per million banknotes in circulation (PPM) which is currently 35 pieces. He stressed that counterfeiting is not a big problem in Mexico and described some ways counterfeits are placed among the public.

Marcia Barbosa, Central Bank of Brazil, presented the data on currency counterfeiting in Brazil, and the amounts confiscated by police and financial institutions. She stressed that there is close collaboration with the postal service to uncover and dismantle counterfeit distribution operations.

Carlos Mauricio Matamoros Castro, Head of the Department of Issuance and Treasury, Central Bank of Honduras, made a presentation describing how counterfeiting banknotes is framed in the constitution: the criminal procedure code, the law of the Central Bank of Honduras and the monetary law. He commented that it is the central bank that must rule if the bills are counterfeit and shared information about the characteristics of counterfeit bills in Honduras.

Paloma Varela, Head of the Cash Management Division of the European Central Bank, presented the statistics of the number of counterfeits for the year 2022, noting that the number of pieces withdrawn from circulation grew 8.4%. She commented that recently there is an increase in high-denomination counterfeits, that is, an increase in the average face value of counterfeits.

Beatriz García Bardera, Head of the Cash Technical Division, Bank of Spain. Framework for the fight against counterfeiting and dismantling of a €500 printing press - Operation casino.  She commented on the pillars of the fight against counterfeiting: the legal pillar, which was the criminalization; the police pillar including the investigation brigade of the Bank of Spain; and the technical pillar, in the Bank of Spain with groups of specialists in the analysis, collection of technical data, with national centers for the analysis of counterfeit banknotes and coins. The fourth pillar is supervision and coordination among all actors.  She described the process of dismantling a 500 Euros printing press.

Marcela Ibarra and Jorge Nicolás Torres, Central Bank of Argentina, Argentina: "Techniques used by counterfeiters" Marcela Ibarra commented that in Argentina financial institutions, agencies and exchange houses and money carriers have the obligation to retain doubtful bills as presumably false or worthless and inform the central bank and each entity must prepare a withholding act. She described the process by which BCRA determines whether banknotes are counterfeit and how it processes them. For his part, Jorge Nicolas Torres, commented on the main functions of the BCRA's sub-management laboratory: to participate in the definition of the technical and security aspects of banknotes, coins and other securities in order to minimize the possibilities of counterfeiting and or adulteration and their maximum durability.

Ricardo Trejo, Technical Chief of the Office of Evaluation of Allegedly False Currency, Bank of Mexico. Mexico Counterfeiting made with authentic fragments and false fragments in Mexico, background and mitigation mechanisms.  He commented on the process used by counterfeiters to cut the bill into two parts, one of them greater than 50% to preserve the value of the bill and how the other smaller ones are joined to complete false pieces. He noted that this type of counterfeiting has been on the rise in recent years.

Presentations of the general situation of counterfeiting in their countries and developments regarding the techniques used by counterfeiters (second block of countries)

Ronald Corrales Brenes, Central Bank of Costa Rica, commented on the counterfeiting statistics in Costa Rica and noted that the change from cotton to polymer in most banknotes brought a major decrease in counterfeiting. He stressed that counterfeits in Costa Rica are very crude.

Juan Ramírez Andueza, President of (OCN Central Office for the Fight against Counterfeiting of Currency) Peru and Hugo Ramos Espinoza, General Manager, OCN, Peru. He commented that the OCN was created at the request of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru and aims to combat in a coordinated and joint manner with the national police and the Public Ministry the counterfeiting of banknotes and coins. He detailed the main interventions that the OCN has made for counterfeiting banknotes.

Bercy Valbrun, Banque de la République de' Haiti, described the actions that the Central Bank of Haiti has taken in the production of banknotes during the last four years. In particular, he pointed out that they have now used polymer to replace cotton in the production of banknotes. He commented on the efforts of counterfeiters in counterfeiting 100 bills.

Maria del Carmen Alvarez García, Head of the Treasury Department, Central Bank of Uruguay, commented on the situation of currency counterfeiting in Uruguay. She highlighted that, in 2022, 60% corresponds to counterfeits detected in national currency, 39% to US dollars and 1% to other denominations, and described the types of counterfeits most frequently detected. She shared the strategy to minimize the risks of counterfeiting: dissemination, good security features of banknotes, and retention of suspected counterfeit notes.

Patricia Flores, Head of the Office of Analysis and Monitoring of Counterfeiting of Currency, Bank of Mexico. Mexico. Convenience of standardizing the calculation of the indicator of counterfeit pieces captured per million banknotes in circulation. In her presentation, she commented on a proposal to improve the way counterfeiting is measured, which aims to make counterfeiting figures comparable across countries. She described the usefulness of the new indicator: better knowledge of how many counterfeit pieces circulate in a country; have homogeneous time series; know the impact of counterfeiting; guide decision-making; Set alerts when certain counterfeiting limits are reached.

Omar Ospina, Director of the Industrial Technical Department Banco de la Republica Colombia. Holistic approach against counterfeiting: Joint work between Central Banks - Judicial Authorities - Media.  He commented on the pillars to holistically combat counterfeiting in Colombia: specialized training; knowledge multiplier programs; proactivity with the media; commitment of the parties involved; scientific analysis of the evolution of possible inputs used by counterfeiters; and new families of banknotes and coins.

Ricardo Trejo, Technical Chief of the Office of Evaluation of Allegedly False Currency. Bank of Mexico. Video Online course on banknotes and coins topics.  He presented a video entitled Know the Banknotes and Coins of Mexico. The course consists of three modules and is available to the public on the Banco de México web platform.

Juan Ramírez Andueza, President of the Board of Directors of OCN Peru (Central Office for the Fight against Counterfeiting of Currency) and Hugo Ramos Espinoza, General Manager, OCN Peru: Coordination with justice operators. They shared the objectives, regulations and structure of the OCN Peru, counterfeiting and the law against organized crime, and the protocol of action of the OCN. With regard to the protocol, they described the different aspects or stages: sources of information; validation of information; case opening; joint research; formalization of research; intervention; post-intervention; and judicial process.

Roberto Marino, Advisor to the Director General of CEMLA, closed the VIII Meeting of Experts on Combating Counterfeiting of Currency, thanking the more than 100 participants for their interest and the panelists for their excellent presentations. He pointed out that the next Meeting of Experts on Combating Counterfeiting Currency will be in 2025, and indicated that he wants it to be again in person.