Money maker banking on fiver faceliftNew security upgrades are in the works for the Canadian $5 bill later this year to prevent bogus bucks from surfacing. (SUN file photo)TORONTO -- Fakery-plagued Sir Wilfrid Laurier will be getting his stripes on the $5 bill later this year.
And in confirming security upgrades for the last of its "Canadian Journey" notes, Bank of Canada spokeswoman Monica Lamoureux said yesterday that current versions will be pulled from circulation "within a one-year period.
"As technology improves, our ability to improve our security features improves, but at the same time counterfeiters have access to new technology," she said.
With fakes of the new $10 bill out six weeks after their introduction on Jan. 17, 2001, the Bank of Canada ordered a facelift and released improved versions last May.
$5 COIN PLAN REJECTED
The new tens have the same holographic metallic stripes, watermarks, colour-shifting threads, a see-through numeral and enhanced fluorescence as the $20, $50, and $100 bills issued in 2004 and 2005. The Laurier fiver, released March 27, 2002 as the second in the series, will have the same upgrades, but not the three-colour maple leaves on the front.
The Department of Finance decided not to replace $5 notes with a coin, Lamoureaux said.
As the new bills were released with improved security features, crooks cranked up their laser-printers as the changed currency replaced the previous banknotes.
Coffee shops, gas stations and variety stores in Ontario were so plagued by bad old-style $50 and $100 bills since the late 1990s that many still have signs warning customers they won't take them. But crooks have also passed forgeries of the new notes.
"We've seen a little bit of everything," said Derek Monaghan, co-owner of a Stouffville variety store, after surrendering a new-style $20 dud note to a bank. "The colour on the stripe was a bit off, but it looked pretty good," he said. "The customer didn't know where he got it, but when we told him it was counterfeit and said it should be turned into a bank, he was okay with that."
Monaghan, 53, said his store doesn't rely on counterfeit scanners.
"We run our fingers over the surfaces, feeling for the raised ink."
There was a 25% increase in bad bucks passed by crooks or seized by police in 2004. Figures for 2005 are due to be released in March.
ian.robertson@tor.sunpub.com
http://ottsun.canoe.ca/Money/2006/01/14/pf-1393182.html
