Police, BSP go after counterfeit money syndicates

With the Christmas season and the election period just around the corner, syndicates may be on the prowl for old discarded bills to counterfeit. The Central Bank issued the warning Thursday even as police arrested at least four members of a ring "distributing" some P15,000 worth of counterfeit P5 coins in a sting operation in Manila. "The four were arrested while handing over fake coins to our undercover operatives. We are now conducting follow-up operations to get to the head of the syndicate," dzEC radio quoted National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) spokesman Sr. Supt. Benjamin delos Santos as saying. Delos Santos refused to name the four while follow-up operations are still ongoing. For its part, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) asked the public to turn in old bills and exchange them for new ones, so counterfeiters cannot get their hands on them. "We will continue monitoring for fake bills and we will continue asking the public to help us here," Fe dela Cruz, head of the BSP corporate affairs office, said in an interview on dzMM radio. She said the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation are also helping the BSP track down fake coins and bills. Dela Cruz made the appeal a week after the NBI seized some P5 million in counterfeit P5 and P10 coins during a recent operation. "We try to exchange old bills with new ones. We don't want old bills to be discarded and fall into the hands of counterfeiters," she said in Filipino. She said counterfeiters will look for the security measures in the bills, which they will either bypass or duplicate. Detecting fake money In most cases, she said counterfeit bills are rougher than genuine ones and the printing is sometimes outside the "border" of the bill. Dela Cruz said the BSP is working to always put in new security features in its bills so "we can stay one step ahead of the counterfeiters." She said people with fake bills or coins can bring them to the BSP or any bank, or call the BSP's cash department at 5234832 or 5247011. She also gave tips on how to detect fake P1, P5 and P10 coins – mostly with the help of a magnet. According to her, fake P5 coins are "more yellowish" than genuine coins, while fake P10 coins have "more metal content" than the real thing. She said the BSP has lessened the metal content on coins because making coins with metal is relatively more expensive. "The new P1 coins from BSP can stick to magnets, but if a P10 coin sticks to a magnet, you can be sure it's fake," Dela Cruz. But she said the BSP expects more P10 coins to be counterfeited than P1 or P5 coins because counterfeiters usually look to manufacture coins with a higher value. - GMANews.TV