Currency note forgers active ahead of Eid

Fake local currency notes have entered the market as dozens of money counterfeiting groups are active ahead of Eid-ul Fitr, detectives revealed it after arresting several currency forgers in the capital over the last few weeks.
They said persons involved in such wrongdoings use computer-based technology for making fake notes of Tk 50, 100, 500 and 1000 denominations within several minutes and market those to cheat vulnerable people like the uneducated, poor and elderly ones.
The syndicate of such criminals usually recruits women from lower income communities for marketing the fake notes. Involvement of some bank officials with them was also found, according to the sources.
The fake notes are technically and visibly too sound to detect as those have almost all kinds of security detection marks, including fake security thread as used in the original denominations, panicking citizens of the capital, the sources added.
When contacted, a senior official of the plainclothes police said the gangsters were manufacturing the fake currency notes targeting the upcoming Eid festival when money transaction normally goes up.
He said that they had intelligence information that a number of such gangs have become active during Ramadan, prompting us to intensify the number of drives in the peak period.
Citing preliminary interrogation of some of the arrestees, he said the fake currency notes are manufactured mainly in two ways. One way is by printing scanned images of real notes onto high quality paper with gum and security ribbons.
On the other hand, they purchase the notes of Tk 100 denomination from Gulistan in the city at much higher rate and remove the print from the notes through boiling it with soap-mixed hot water or other form of liquid and the numbers are changed to give it the appearance of a Tk 500 note, he said.
Four persons, including a woman, were also arrested in two separate raids by Jatrabari police last week. A huge amount of counterfeit currency was also recovered from their possession.
Sub-inspector of the police station Atikur Rahman, who is also investigation officer (IO) of the cases, said each gang has separate groups for making and marketing the fake notes and one group knows nothing about the other.
Describing the trading pattern of the groups, he said female members visit various shops in the capital to buy products. After buying something, they pay the bill with original note/ notes but few moments later they ask the shopkeeper to return the note/ notes citing the excuse of paying in change.
Whenever the shop mangers or shopkeepers return the note, the fake currency traders go for a search into his/her moneybag or purse for change and smartly replace the original notes with fake ones.
"Then the note forgers give the fake one to the shop manager, saying that they haven't enough change. Normally, shopkeepers do not show carefulness in checking currency notes for the second time," he said.
He said one bundle of forged notes worth Tk100,000 is sold at Tk10,000 to wholesalers. Then the retailers buy the same amount at Tk15,000 and sell those fake notes to persons who cheat vulnerable people -  the uneducated, poor and elderly ones.
Rozena Begum, a former fake currency note trader, said the members of the fake note syndicates use different symbols among themselves. They call 1000 taka note Jubba, 500 taka note Punjabi and 100 taka note Dhopa.
The members of the syndicates sell these notes at 60 per cent commission. For example, a 100 taka fake note is sold for taka 40, a 500 taka fake note is sold for taka 200 and 1000 taka fake note is sold for taka 300 only.
In the wake of active presence of the currency note forgers, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), the country's apex trade body, in association with the central bank will supply counterfeit currency detection machine freely to the city's major shopping malls and centres.
Expressing concern over the growing trading of fake notes ahead of the Eid, Executive Director of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) Das Gupta Asim Kumar said they would install such machine at 46 shopping malls and centres in the capital to detect the fake ones from today (Monday).
He said that they have instructed all the banks to use fake currency detection machine at each branch.