FERG Chairman: Know Your Currency approach the most effective in helping staff combat counterfeiting

Dubai, UAE, June 9, 2016:    The Foreign Exchange and Remittance Group (FERG), comprising businesses engaged in money exchange and remittances, organized a high-powered training session in June 2016 to raise awareness of counterfeited bank notes among frontline staff members at exchange and remittance houses. 

The session, held in Dubai’s Grand Excelsior Hotel Bur Dubai, was designed to help exchange and remittance professionals rapidly identify suspicious foreign currency notes. The event focused on the security features built into various currencies, and presented comparisons between genuine and counterfeit notes.

“Counterfeiting has serious repercussions for global economies. It reduces the value of real money, and can result in decreased acceptability of paper money as consumers and businesses lose trust in currency. This can in turn increase the costs of doing business. If not vetted carefully, counterfeit notes can also result in losses when trades are not reimbursed,” says FERG Chairman Osama Al Rahma. 

Experts at the event noted that counterfeit notes are most prevalent at gas stations, grocery stores and cash intensive businesses such as remittance and exchange houses. Employees benefitted from a refresher course in the security features built into bank notes, including substrate, design and ink and shiny features. 

“We believe that the best way of guarding against counterfeit bank notes is the KYC – or Know Your Currency approach. We want our members of staff to be very adept at recalling the features of all the world’s major currencies so they can immediately tell if something doesn’t match up. Suspicious notes can then be tested further,” Al Rahma said. 

Attendees were taken through escalating steps for testing suspicious notes. The very first step is feeling the banknote – with counterfeit samples regularly given away by differing texture. Genuine bank notes are often Intaglio printed – a method that produces subtle reliefs on the print, giving it a raised feel.

The next move is to hold a note up to the light to check see-through features, watermarks and security threads. If needed, staff members can use a UV lamp to reveal ultraviolet security measures, or check for optically variable ink and latent images. The escalation process of engagement of law enforcement and reporting to authorities as this is considered an offence in UAE and other countries.

“Awareness and vigilance are key weapons against counterfeiting and fraud. FERG is committed to creating a robust, transparent and convenient exchange and remittance industry in the UAE, and works very hard to promote consumer trust. Our anti-counterfeiting training is just one of the many initiatives FERG organises to bring world-class expertise and resources to its members,” Al Rahma concluded.