Making Cash Even More Secure with New Technologies
Making Cash Even More Secure with New Technologies
Rapid
technological development has opened up new opportunities in many areas of the
printing industry. Koenig & Bauer has recognised the potential of linking
the analogue and digital worlds and created a new segment within the company.
The aim is to find new solutions to accompany and help shape technological
progress and thus secure the future of cash. A first fruitful step in this area
is the development of a new app that will make the use of cash even safer and
add more functions. The technology will be used to authenticate cash in the
beginning, but can easily be adapted to tax stamps, brand protection or other
applications containing high security printing processes like intaglio (raised)
print.
Authentication in seconds
We all face situations in our
life where we wonder if the banknote we received is a genuine or a counterfeit.
For example, when selling your furniture on the internet and the buyer gives
you cash when coming to take the item. How sure are you that this is a real
banknote? An unpleasant situation that, in the worst case, can mean a
considerable financial loss. With the new ValiCash™ app from Koenig &
Bauer, the authenticity of banknotes - depending on the smartphone model - can
be verified in less than a second. The app features a sophisticated system
based on the structural analysis of intaglio print and, more generally, checks
the specific optical features of high-security printing processes, such as
holograms and screen-printing features.
In the first phase of the
market launch, the app is available in the Apple Store and can authenticate all
euro banknotes. In the next step, the ValiCash™ app will be usable on more
devices and the scope of verifiable currency units will also be expanded. It is
particularly important that the authenticity check works for all euro banknotes
- even for those of the first generation that are already in circulation.
The app recognises the denomination being scanned. If the input image is not good enough, the app displays a ‘Try again’ message and guides the user on how to improve the capturing process (eg. flatten the note or keep the phone steady). If the app displays ‘Fail’, the app reverts to a ‘manual’ mode, putting up European Central Bank (ECB) security feature information to allow people to make their own decisions.
Bad
times for counterfeit money
Thanks to the continuous
development of security procedures in the field of banknote printing, the
number of counterfeit euro banknotes has been steadily decreasing until today.
A great success was achieved with the second generation, the so-called Europa
series. The increasingly complex security features were successively introduced
for all denominations from 2013 to 2019, starting with the five-euro
notes.
Despite increasing security
procedures, many fraudsters still do not shy away from counterfeiting
banknotes. Counterfeit money must in any case be handed over to a police
station or bank when discovered. The bitter thing is that if you have not
recognised the fraud immediately and refused to accept it, you are left with
the loss, because counterfeit money is not replaced. To avoid this, there are
various ways of checking a banknote for authenticity.
Play it safe
Are you wondering if we have
the ability to recognise ourselves whether banknotes are genuine or
counterfeit? This requires some knowledge and for example by touching the
banknote, which can be, printed on different substrate with dedicated security
features such as Intaglio with Tactile Marks feature, displaying the banknote
against daylight
to
see specific security features and finally moving the banknote to see the
effects of certain security features that are impossible to reproduce.
The
more complicated and elaborate the design and printing of the banknotes, the
more securely cash is protected against counterfeiting. Therefore, it is more
complicated to check the banknotes’ authenticity in everyday life. With the
ValiCash™ app, you can save yourself the checking work and a lot of time and
get a secure result in a few seconds with just one click.