What to do if you get a counterfeit bill. Lots of falsehood
Do you know what is in your wallet? It would seem money and money, nothing out of the ordinary.
Take a closer look: do they have all the signs of authenticityprovided by the Central Bank. Eat? So all banknotes are real. But what to do if you come across a suspicious bill?
If you understand that the money is fake, do not try to pay with it!
You can get up to eight years in prison for selling counterfeit cash when you know it's fake. . . With a suspicious bill, you need to go to the bank or the police.
We hand over counterfeit money to the bank
With a detected counterfeit banknote, you can contact any banking institution “Regulations on the procedure for conducting cash transactions and the rules for storing, transporting and collecting banknotes and coins of the Bank of Russia in credit institutions on the territory of the Russian Federation” (approved by the Bank of Russia on April 24, 2008 No. 318-P) .. A bank employee will check the banknotes and determine which category they belong to: dubious, insolvent or showing signs of forgery.
- On insolvent bills are stamped "exchange denied", after which they are returned to you. Of course, in the future they can not pay off.
- On dubious And showing signs of forgery banknotes, a certificate is drawn up indicating all the details of banknotes and an order for the transfer of values. You will be issued certificates and banknotes to verify the correctness of the specified data, and then the money will be taken for verification, which is carried out within 5 working days.
Handing over counterfeit money to the police
Counterfeit banknotes can be handed over directly to the police. Before that, how the bill got into your wallet, at what point of sale you could get it, who could pay it to you. You will have to testify.
With regard to the discovery of a fake in the precinct, a case will be opened, special examinations and an investigation will be carried out. During interrogations, describe in detail the conditions under which you received these banknotes.
Insist that you did not know about the counterfeit banknotes before this fact was discovered. Checks, interrogations and investigations can drag on for a month or longer.
Perhaps you simply do not have time to fiddle with a suspicious bill and run around the authorities. Money can simply be torn, burned or cut into small pieces. But at the same time, there will be a chance that you will destroy a shabby or just an old real bill.
In what cases will the money be returned
As long as they were real. Then they will call you from a bank or a police station and give you banknotes in your hands or credit them to your personal account.
If, as a result of the check, the money turned out to be counterfeit, it is possible to recover damages from the person from whom you received it: the store where you received the change; the bank from whose ATM you have withdrawn; person who handed over suspicious cash. But this can be done only at the stage of the trial.
In what cases will the money not be returned?
If they turned out to be fake, but where the bills ended up in your wallet, you, for the life of you, cannot remember. Alas, in this case, counterfeit banknotes are destroyed in the bank branch or given to you in your hands with a stamp confirming their invalidity.
How to protect yourself from receiving counterfeit money as much as possible
- Give preference to cashless payments.
- Exchange currency in banks, not in small exchangers.
- Check the received banknotes on the spot. If you have a special device (at the checkout or at your place), check cash with it.
- Do not exchange small bills for larger ones in the markets, in small retail outlets or with individuals.
And for those who want to remember how to distinguish fake money from real money, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation launched
Some Russian ATMs have stopped accepting 5,000-ruble banknotes, the newspaper found out. The problem has affected the ATMs of the NCR company, which, according to the publication, last week warned banks about a large stuffing of counterfeit banknotes. Fraudsters managed to deceive receivers with old devices for checking the authenticity of banknotes. Among the banks that received a warning and, probably, suspended the acceptance of banknotes with a face value of 5,000 rubles, are MKB, Alfa-Bank and Otkritie. The damage from the actions of fraudsters is estimated at several million rubles for each bank, the newspaper specifies.
Throwing counterfeit banknotes into ATMs will not affect bank customers in any way, assures Maxim Dareshin, head of the department for the development of self-service systems at Alfa-Bank. It is only about accepting counterfeit banknotes, which harms the banks themselves. In this case, nothing threatens customers, since ATMs that accepted counterfeit banknotes worked only for acceptance, and not for issuance. “The danger here threatens banks, not customers,” Dareshin says.
How to recognize a fake
According to the Bank of Russia, a banknote of 5,000 rubles is most often counterfeited by scammers. In the second quarter of 2018, the regulator identified almost 7,000 such fakes. The second most popular among fraudsters is a banknote with a face value of 1,000 rubles - the regulator found about 2,300 such fakes in the second quarter.
According to experts interviewed by Forbes, there are two types of banknote counterfeiting: one for people, the other for ATMs. “Fakes that are made for people, as a rule, are not recognized by machines, scammers make them beautiful and look like the original only in appearance. In the second case, fraudsters forge only machine-readable features. Then the appearance of the banknote will obviously indicate a fake,” Maxim Dareshin explains.
The fact is that when identifying a banknote, an ATM evaluates such parameters as dimensions, up to nanometers, the location and material of execution of “diving” security lines, paper density, the presence of luminescent and magnetic elements, explains Ilya Zharsky, managing partner of the Veta expert group.
“As a result, due to the“ color blindness ”of most modern ATMs, counterfeit banknotes intended for them are made in black and white, and some of them are completely devoid of a pattern - only the elements necessary to recognize a digitized banknote with a digital impression are copied,” says Zharsky . That is, a person can easily distinguish such banknotes.
But fakes that were distributed among people, not machines, are unlikely to be recognized by an ordinary client, says Yegor Kovalenko, managing partner of the National Legal Service Amulex. Such banknotes can be identified only by experts or cashiers who know the distinguishing features of the types of printing used in the manufacture of banknotes, banknote security elements against counterfeiting, as well as ways to imitate these elements.
So it will not be possible to recognize a high-quality fake, therefore, in order to protect yourself in case of fraud, you should follow a few simple rules. Namely: always ask for a bank check when receiving money from an ATM and keep it with you, do not use questionable ATMs that have keyboard overlays, dents or other signs of inconsistency, Kovalenko advises.
The ATM gave out a fake. What to do?
If, nevertheless, the client suspects that the ATM gave him a fake or even simply damaged, torn or dirty bill, you need to take the following steps, explains Yegor Kovalenko.
First, you should contact the bank at the phone number that is usually placed on the ATM, explain the situation and provide the ATM number or location. Secondly, you need to wait for the bank employees and transfer the dubious banknote to them according to the act, while be sure to keep a copy of the act and the check.
Bank employees will have to submit the banknote for examination, which is carried out by a special division of the Central Bank. “If the examination establishes signs of its forgery, then you need to be ready to communicate with police officers who will find out all the circumstances of the origin of this banknote. In this case, the act of transferring banknotes drawn up with the bank and the bank check issued by the ATM can come in handy, ”explains Kovalenko.
If, upon verification, it is confirmed that the ATM issued a counterfeit banknote, the bank must cancel the withdrawal operation and return the money to the account holder.
What should I do if I have a counterfeit banknote? Many citizens of our country still do not know the answer to this question, and what is remarkable is that this applies not only to ordinary people, but also to people who, by virtue of their profession, are simply obliged to clearly understand what to do with a counterfeit banknote - these are sellers, cashiers, those people who work with cash.
Many people in their lives have had to deal with an unpleasant situation, and even more than once. When you come to a store, pharmacy, post office or bank, and the cashier tells you that the bill you are paying at the moment is fake.
Usually, people are very lost in such a situation from this shocking news, so you need to prepare in advance and find out what to do in such cases.
There may be several options here:
Fake detected in retail outlets
So, let's say you came to the store, scored a mountain of purchases and when paying for goods at the checkout, the cashier claims that your five thousandth is a fake bill. Of course, this statement plunges you into shock. What should the cashier do next? What should you do?
Our legislation does not regulate anywhere what a service worker should do if a client pays with a counterfeit banknote. It is clear that no one will accept it as payment for a product or service, but what to do next?
Basically, the policy of companies is as follows: return the bill back to the client, recognizing it as doubtful, but still not fake, asking to replace it with another. Most often, no one wants to get involved with our valiant police, wasting time and nerves on proceedings.
In fact, the cashier, having discovered a fake, should call the police, because in this case he is faced with an offense. But he does not have the right to seize a banknote, tear it, since only a bank can reliably determine whether a counterfeit banknote or not. Store employees also have no right to keep a client. They can only ask the police to wait for further proceedings.
If the cashier or store security called the police, stay calm. Demand that your banknote be returned to you, try to rewrite the banknote number. If the cashier goes somewhere with your bill, accuse the cashier of substitution, indicate this in the police report.
Fake found in bank
If you came to the bank with a counterfeit banknote, then the bank employee must act in accordance with the Regulation on the procedure for conducting cash transactions in credit institutions in the Russian Federation, developed by the Bank of Russia for bank employees.
If a bank employee with full certainty determined with the help of special means that the banknote is fake, then he must put an imprint of the “Forgery” stamp on the banknote. Write the name of your bank, indicate your surname and initials, put the date.
Redeemed banknotes are withdrawn, a withdrawal protocol is drawn up. The client must make sure that the details of the banknote seized from you match the data indicated in the protocol.
As soon as the cashier has informed you about the fake, try not to let the unfortunate bill out of your sight. Ask to show signs of its forgery. Your normal banknote can be replaced with a fake one, so be careful. A bank employee is required to report a counterfeit banknote to the police.
If a bank employee doubts whether your banknote is fake or not, then he classifies the banknote as dubious. Issues a certificate in two copies 0402159, which reflects the last name, first name, patronymic of the citizen from whom the bill was received, as well as his address and passport data.
The certificate also indicates the details of doubtful money: denomination, year of the sample (issue), series and number.
Doubtful money is transferred for examination in, if they are authentic, they are returned to the client or credited to his account. If the money is counterfeit, they are destroyed.
It should be noted that sometimes bank employees simply give back fakes to their customers without bothering to seize them and the police. Or vice versa, they begin to be treated unacceptably sharply and rudely, as with counterfeiters, which of course is unacceptable.
Sometimes banks do this: they take away a bill, claiming that it is counterfeit. And as a favor, they offer not to call the police, and, accordingly, they do not issue a certificate of seized banknotes.
Here the client faces a choice: to lose irretrievably money, which may not be fake at all, or to wait for a long time for the police. And then deal with the police, where did the fake banknote come from. Many choose the former.
Counterfeit money discovered on its own
If you find a counterfeit banknote in your wallet, this is, of course, very unpleasant, but not fatal. First you need to make sure that the banknote is fake and for this you can contact any bank. You need to grab your passport, draw up an application for an examination and an inventory of dubious banknotes.
If the bill is fake, then no one will return the money to you and will not reimburse the expenses, but it is better not to be greedy and not try to sell the banknote to someone. Firstly, it is not ethical and immoral, and secondly, for the sale of fakes, you can fall under criminal article 186.
It's one thing if you didn't know you had a fake in your wallet. And it’s completely different when you are consciously looking for someone to save it so as not to suffer financially yourself.
Unfortunately, disabled people and pensioners, who are already low-income, often suffer from counterfeit money. Imagine that a fake five-thousandth banknote got to a lonely granny, whose pension is only 5,000 rubles, but she will simply die of hunger.
So, if you realize that you have a fake bill in your hands, get rid of it - tear it, burn it, give it to the police, but do not pay it so as not to commit a crime.
Criminal liability for counterfeit money
Criminal liability for the manufacture of counterfeit money for the purpose of their sale is prescribed in article 186 of the Criminal Code. Their storage, transportation and distribution are punishable by forced labor up to five years or imprisonment for eight years.
If the crime is committed on a large scale (in excess of 1,500,000 rubles), then imprisonment is up to 12 years. In the event that the offense is committed by a group of persons, the punishment is increased to 15 years in prison.
To minimize communication with counterfeit money, one must learn to distinguish fakes from real money. It is better to spend a little time on this, the lost time will pay off. Especially, it is important to know the signs of a fake in.
For Goznak, he developed the Banknotes 2017 mobile application with augmented reality, which allows you to recognize the authenticity of banknotes.
Try to pay more often by bank transfer - for large transactions (for example, selling a car), check the money for authenticity at the bank.
Do not be afraid to find out with the police, tell us where you could allegedly get a counterfeit bill. Remember that you are not a criminal, but a victim, and fakes can be given to you at a bank or ATM, and not just in a market or in a dubious stall.
Nina Polonskaya
Suspicious banknote
Most often, people themselves are the first to discover a fake if it ends up in their wallet. Money counterfeiters find it difficult to compete with Goznak, so their “products” are much rougher both in appearance and in touch. On some samples, there is even no imitation of protection - the calculation is only for inattention.
So, when you see a fake, you do not need to try to pay it off. It is clear that money is a pity, especially if it is 5 thousand rubles, but no one has abolished criminal liability for the sale, transportation and storage of fakes (Article 186 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Still, freedom is more valuable.
Of course, you can just tear it up, throw away the ill-fated bill and, without bothering, forget about it. But it is better to hand it over to the police: if the counterfeiter is found, then the real money will be recovered from him. True, you will have to be patient and be ready for investigation and checks.
Contact the bank
If you are not completely sure whether the bill is fake or not, then you can check it at the bank (this is a paid procedure).
Having discovered a 100% fake, employees of a financial institution will put an advising stamp on the bill and advise you to contact the police.
They can simply take a suspicious banknote in order to send it for examination to the Bank of Russia. At the same time, they must issue a certificate indicating the details of the seized banknotes (CBR regulation No. 318-P), otherwise the bank employee himself can be suspected of bad faith.
And the third option. On the bill, they may not find signs of a fake, but recognize the money as insolvent. This threatens in the case of a damaged banknote. It is stamped "Exchange denied".
Fake found in store
It is not such a rare situation when, when paying for a purchase in a store, the cashier can suddenly declare that the bill is counterfeit. You don't have to faint if you have nothing to do with it.
Of course, according to all the rules, the police must be called in the store, and the buyer will have to wait for her to give explanations or testimony. Law enforcement officers need to tell everything as it is: the bill came to you by accident, you did not know that it was fake, it is advisable to remember where and from whom you received it.
But the rules are not always followed, often the bill is simply returned and asked to pay with other money.
It is worth noting that, unlike a bank, a banknote is not taken anywhere in a store, for example, with the words: “We have a machine for checking.” After all, they can take away a real banknote, and return a fake one, which suddenly turned out to be in the sales outlet due to the carelessness of the seller.
Remember the signs of a real bill
In order not to get into unpleasant situations in banks and shops, the police recommend learning how to identify a genuine five thousandth bill (they are counterfeited more often).
The most important thing is to pay attention to the presence of a bright shiny horizontal stripe in the middle of the coat of arms of the city of Khabarovsk. It can be seen from the right angle. When the banknote is tilted, it moves.
Another main feature is that on a fragment of a security thread that emerges on the surface of the paper on the front side of the banknote, repeated images of the numbers “5000” are visible in the figured window. When tilted, the numbers move relative to each other.
Another protection that is difficult to fake is on the decorative tape located on the front side above the inscription “five thousand rubles”, namely above the word “thousand”, a hidden image in the form of the letters “PP” is visible at an angle.
Of course, 5000 banknotes can be checked for other signs. But in order to quickly determine the authenticity of a bill, the three listed above are enough.
Security measures against counterfeit banknotes
The very first thing - do not exchange large banknotes in the market or with private traders, there is a high risk that counterfeit money will be slipped.
Today, when almost everyone has bank cards, it is advisable to use cashless payments more often.
Large bills received at the store must be checked on the spot. For this, knowledge of the signs of a genuine banknote will be useful to you, the determination of which does not require special instruments.
When you need to pay for a large purchase (for example, for an apartment), you need to take care of checking banknotes. Banking is the best option.
Criminals have learned to counterfeit money for a long time, and modern technologies only make this task easier for them. The first fakes appeared in Russia in the 15th century. Therefore, now you should not be surprised that a counterfeit bill has come across. The main thing is to behave correctly when you find fake money, since even keeping it is a crime.
How to recognize counterfeit money
Counterfeiting of banknotes is a phenomenon common in many countries of the world. Russia, Ukraine, Belarus are no exception. Counterfeiting is a criminal offense, therefore, in case of any suspicion, you should check whether the banknote is counterfeit or not:
- If you look at the banknote more closely, you can see watermarks, security thread, perforations, etc. The fake does not have these features.
- Particular attention should be paid to the quality of the paper. A real banknote, even to the touch, is very different from a fake. You can also conduct a small experiment by dropping iodine on a bill. If the money is counterfeit, then the bill will turn blue in this place.
- Real banknotes always have special embossed signs. They are applied to people with vision problems. They are also used to determine if a bill is counterfeit. For example, on a banknote of 5 thousand rubles, you can easily feel the inscription “Ticket of the Bank of Russia”, the image of the denomination, etc.
- If you twist the bill in different directions, you can see how the image changes and hidden pictures appear. These signs are very difficult to fake, so their presence is almost always a 100% guarantee that the money is real.
The main signs of fake money are the inconsistency of the color of the dyes and their instability to moisture, the appearance of stripes on the banknote, shedding of paint, fuzziness or complete absence of watermarks, thick paper. Most often, banknotes are counterfeited in denominations of 500, 1,000 and 5,000 rubles.
Of course, no one checks every bill that is in the wallet. And it is not known how many fakes, out of ignorance, every citizen pays. Therefore, if a fake is detected, it is necessary to take appropriate measures.
What to do if you get a fake
It is much easier to slip a fake in a pack, so it is important to be able to identify a fake or conduct such transactions using a cashless payment. If a person nevertheless discovered a real fake, you should never use this money.
Important! Even if there is a desire to pay with such a bill, it should be remembered that for this a citizen will face criminal liability under Art. 186 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Is it possible to return counterfeit banknotes somewhere?
So, the person was paid with counterfeit money. Where should I take them to exchange them for real ones and report a crime? A law-abiding citizen has two options:
- bank;
- police.
According to the law, if a person comes across a counterfeit banknote, he can apply to any banking institution. There, the cashier will check for signs of forgery, and then return it back to the applicant or take it away for a more thorough examination. You can also contact the police. It is desirable that the citizen could say under what circumstances he found the banknote (or was given it as change).
In what cases will the money be returned
If it was possible to find a suspicious bill, and the person immediately turned to the bank or the police, the money can be given back to him. But, unfortunately, it will not be possible to replace a fake banknote with a real one in this way. In other words, compensation for providing counterfeit money will not be issued.
This rule is used to prevent counterfeiters from legally exchanging fakes. In fact, the refund depends on the victim. If he can bring the scammer to justice, he will return them. But for this you have to go to court.
The money will be returned to the owner if:
- Examination showed that the banknote is real. In any bank, this will be detected almost immediately, so the procedure will not take much time. But then you can safely use the money without fear of getting a prison sentence.
- The banknote turned out to be fake. Bank employees will return it, putting the appropriate stamp on it. Subsequently, it can be evidence of fraudulent actions when a person goes to court to recover damages. A bank employee also has the right to transfer it to law enforcement officers.
In any case, the replacement of money can only be carried out by the person who slipped the fake.
How to protect yourself from counterfeiting
Any person can get a fake, so it is important to follow simple safety rules. You need to do the following:
- It is advisable to use bank transfer as often as possible.
- If we are talking about a large amount of money (for example, when selling property), you should take care of checking banknotes. Payment can be made at the bank.
- Do not exchange large banknotes in the market or from private traders.
- It is better to change currency in a bank, and not in dubious exchangers.
If there is any suspicion of providing a fake, you should refuse to accept it and demand a refund of your money. If they try to slip banknotes during the purchase of goods in the form of change, you should try to detain this person under any pretext and call the police. As a last resort, it is necessary to involve witnesses.
Criminal liability
The main thing is that in no case should you try to get rid of fakes by purchasing goods. It may turn out that in this case a fake will be discovered and then there will be serious problems with law enforcement agencies.
The fact is that the existence of a penalty for counterfeiting does not mean that only the one who, in fact, counterfeited the money, is liable.
Article 186 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation implies that liability also applies for the storage, transportation and sale of fakes. It is very difficult to prove your innocence in a crime. With regard to the punishment itself, the sanction of this article provides:
- Imprisonment (up to 8 years), forced labor (up to 5 years) or a fine (up to 1 million rubles).
- Imprisonment (up to 12 years) and a fine (up to 1 million rubles) if the act was committed on a large scale.
- Imprisonment (up to 15 years) and a fine (up to 1 million rubles) if the crime is committed by an organized group.
It is not necessary to carry counterfeit money to the bank or the police (especially if it is not known where they came from in the wallet). A bill can simply be destroyed, that is, burned or torn. But in order not to destroy real money, it is still better to check them first.