People should examine Lao banknotes carefully before accepting them, because of the number of counterfeit notes that have recently been discovered in circulation in the country, a senior bank official has warned.
The Director General of the Currency and Treasury Department of the Bank of the Lao PDR, Ms Bounta Daravy, said yesterday that bank officials and economic police had found evidence of widespread use of fake kip notes over recent months, and urged people to pay more attention to the cash they were handling.
“Bank officials have seized several fake banknotes, even while people have been in the process of using them to buy goods at markets or depositing them at commercial banks in Vientiane and the provinces,” she told Vientiane Times yesterday.
Ms Bounta said the counterfeits seized had mostly been 20,000 kip and 50,000 kip notes, but she could not confirm whether there were any other denominations of fake notes, such as 5000 kip and 1,000 kip notes, in circulation.
She said that the perpetrators had used modern copy machines to produce the fake money, and had taken care to mix the notes up with real banknotes before using them, making it even more difficult for people to check them, especially at busy times .
When handling kip banknotes, people should look out for several things: the fake notes are printed on regular paper, with dull colour. They also do not contain the important watermarks of Lao kip banknotes, including the distinctive vertical lines to the right of the centre.
Ms Bounta sa id that, to date, police had no made any arrests, and that it was likely there were still a significant number of fake notes in circulation.
She said the only way to halt the spread of fake currency was to encourage all members of the public to keep an eye on the money they were handling.
She said that in the past months, the central bank had issued warnings to be published in newspapers, about fake banknotes, urging people to take care.
The most recent perpetrators had taken advantage of the increasing number of 20,000 and 50,000 kip notes in circulation, and their increasing value. She said they were also taking advantage of the fact that Lao people had never had to deal with counterfeit versions of their own currency before, and were unfami liar with the telltale signs.
Ms Bounta said that a widespread circulation of fake banknotes would have a negative impact as it would discredit the currency and people would be reluctant to use Lao kip.
By vientiane times (Latest Update November 1, 2007)
