It was remarkable the news published by the Ministry of Interior about the arrest of a young woman committing fraud and buying used cellular devices with forged amounts, which are the 5,000-pound banknotes that were presented a year and a half ago for circulation in the markets, which raises several questions about the ability of counterfeiting networks on the one hand, and the reality of safety characteristics. Which was talked about when launching the work with the new currency, which makes the process of counterfeiting it very difficult.
In the official news that announced the launch of the new banknote in January 2021, the Central Bank announced that the banknote has high security advantages that are difficult to forge or forgery and easy to distinguish through embossed printing that gives the paper a distinct roughness, including the denomination number, inscriptions and signatures, in addition to a star-shaped sign. Its features are completed on both sides of the paper when viewed through the light and number 5000 is printed with color-changing visible ink with a golden vertical ripple kinetic effect and many other features.
All of these advantages did not prevent the forgery and counterfeiting networks from printing counterfeit papers of the 5,000-pound denomination and using them in fraud and fraud operations. What is remarkable in the process is the amount of forged amounts that were seized and their geographical distribution in several governorates.
The news published by the Ministry of Interior on May 20, 2022 talked about the confiscation of about 15 and a half million counterfeit national currency, the denomination of 5 thousand pounds, which means more than 3,000 banknotes of the same denomination in the possession of a girl working to buy used mobile devices and pay their value from the counterfeit currency. .
This number is a dangerous indicator of the ability of counterfeiting networks to produce large quantities of counterfeit paper, which poses a danger to ordinary dealers and small outlets that do not have electronic devices, especially since not every dealer is able to distinguish between the original and the counterfeit paper or perhaps does not care much when dealing with in small amounts.
And the arrested woman is an individual in an organized network, which means that there are several people in possession of counterfeit sums that may exceed her possessions, so the news ends that investigations are continuing to find out the rest of those involved in the case and arrest them.
In another news, the ministry stated that a person was arrested in Aleppo for promoting counterfeit Syrian currency and more than 5 million forged Syrian pounds were seized in his home. Half a million pounds.
How can we protect dealers from falling into the trap of receiving a forged national currency?
In fact, what the Ministry of Interior and its specialized agencies are doing in pursuing counterfeiting networks is a good thing, but it is not enough to ensure that citizens are protected from falling into the trap of receiving counterfeit banknotes.
Therefore, the competent authorities must make efforts to raise awareness of the dangers of currency counterfeiting and how to detect and report it through the media, communication platforms and others to ensure that citizens are aware of the seriousness of the matter and alert them to methods to ensure the safety of the currency they obtain, thus protecting them and contributing to curbing this malicious phenomenon.
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