19 Dec 2013

The Bank of Botswana (BoB) has warned the public about the existence of counterfeit P200, P100 and P50 notes in circulation.

A press release from the BoB states that the counterfeits are scan copies of genuine bank notes bearing the serial numbers AB 747262, AB 7690838, AC 0386560, AC 0856945 and AC 2719107 for P200 notes and AC 0652031 and AC 8811318 for P100 notes. As for P50, the counterfeit notes bear the serial number AB 8511071.

The release notes that in all cases, the holographic stripes and the windowed security threads appear as dark patches on the front and back of the counterfeits. The counterfeits are also made of ordinary commercial paper, and therefore, have a smooth surface when compared to genuine bank notes.

A genuine P200, P100 and P50 note has a holographic stripe appearing as a wide silver coloured stripe on the front of the note. The holographic stripe on each of the three notes has an image of the coat of arms. With the P200 note, the stripe also has switching images of a zebra’s head and numeral ‘200,’ while that on the P100 has switching images of a diamond and the numeral ‘100.’ The holographic stripe on the P50 note has switching images of a fish eagle and the numeral ‘50.’

According to the release, the switching images on the holographic stripe should not all appear at the same time, but should switch from one to the other when the bank note is tilted from side to side.

Furthermore, a genuine P200, P100 and P50 note each has a windowed security thread which changes colour from red to green, according to the viewing angle. When held up to the light, the threads can be seen as a continuous line reading ‘BoB 200,’ ‘BoB 100’ and ‘BoB 50’ on the notes respectively.

The public is especially urged to be vigilant and exercise caution during the coming festive season when accepting bank notes from any source. Any suspicious bank notes discovered should be immediately reported to the nearest police station or Bank of Botswana in Gaborone or Francistown. ENDS