Fake W10,000 Circulating.

Via Koreabeat:

The counterfeit currency given by police to the kidnappers of a Seoul bakery owner has entered general circulation…
…serial numbers (EC1195348A)…
The imitation money was new denomination notes produced by the police in August 2007. The notes are of such quality as to be indistinguishable from genuine currency at first sight. But upon closer examination, their 1mm larger size and lack of hidden design work becomes apparent. However, because of their sophistication, Park initially had no idea that they were fakes. ’93I only found out that they were counterfeit because of the serial numbers,’94 he declared.

Police are saying that the forged notes could circulate further.

Watch out if you get paid for anything in cash.

Here’s a list of security features on the real bills:

Korean 10,000 won note Security Features

	Color-Shifting Ink Depending on the angle, the color of the Braille Code in the lower left corner on the obverse of the banknote turns from gold to green.
	Windowed Security Thread The windowed security thread is easily seen as metallic bars under the light. When the banknote is held up to the light, the segments of the thread are connected as a bold continuous line.
	Watermark Holding the note up to the light, a hidden portrait of King Sejong appears in the non-image space on the left side of the obverse(and the right side of the reverse).
	SPAS(Special Press and Soldering) The T’aeguk, two-comma roundel, in the lower left corner of the portrait watermark on the obverse, appears as a kind of watermark even without the note being held up to the light.
	Micro Lettering Difficult to see with the naked eye, but can be discerned with magnifier. It appears as a line or dotted line when forged by color printer or color copier.
	Intaglio Latent Image Tilted, the latent character word “10000″ appear in the right of the portrait.
	See-Through Register Held up to the light, the right-corner image on the observe matches the image on the reverse.
	Intaglio Printing A special method putting ink into the concave and printing as convex. The slightly raised figures can be felt.

Tagged as: bank, crime, fake, korea, money