Bank Indonesia has warned that while counterfeit banknotes have dropped in circulation in recent years consumers must stay savvy as 22,212 fake notes have already been found in 2017.
Suhaedi, the Executive Director of Monetary Management Department at the central bank, said that to date there is at least one fake banknote per 500,000 issued by Bank Indonesia in the country.
“The amount of circulating fake banknotes has been decreased year by year. Previously, there are 10 fake banknotes circulating out of one million issued banknotes,” Suhaedi said, as quoted by Detik.
He added that this figure is still lower than in other countries.
Suhaedi pointed to the new banknotes, which have 3D anti-fraud features, as responsible for the decrease with plenty of education for consumers and shop-workers alike to identify counterfeit notes.
“We executed the 3D campaign socialization routinely and intensively to prevent more fake banknotes circulating in the country,” Suhaedi said.
Law enforcement is also getting stricter on fraud, with one suspect in a recent case sentenced to 14 years imprisonment.
Java is by far the largest region reporting counterfeit cash, with 11,755 cases reported from the start of the year until February. Bank Indonesia data shows 6,402 notes had been found circulating in Jakarta in the same period, 1,180 in Bali and Nusa Tenggara, 467 in Kalimantan and 747 in Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua.
“Most of the fake banknotes are circulating in Java because the island has more economic transactions and business activities than other region in the country,” Suhaedi said.
The total number of fake banknotes circulating in the country is decreasing, with 222,443 found in Java in 2015 before dropping to 81,424 last year.
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