Warning on fake peso bills

Over a year ago the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (The Philippines Central Bank) started the introduction of new banknotes. One year later we had only seen 20 Pesos and 1000 Pesos bills. The public does not yet know the new bills. This facts open the gates wide open for counterfeit bills.

Mayor Herbert Bautista said the proliferation of counterfeit bills calls for drastic measures because even gasoline stations, fast food stores and other retail outlets have been victimized by counterfeiters passing off fake P100, P500 and P1,000 bills.

“Throughout the year we would occasionally receive complaints about the use of counterfeit bills but surprisingly there were a significant number of reports about similar problems in the last few days. I believe there is now a basis for the PNP, the NBI and banking authorities to start an investigation,’’ Bautista said.

The new peso bills have 14 known security marks. But to make sure you have a true banknote in your hands, you should know where to look for these security marks. Some of the marks can only be detected with an UV-lamp (short-wave ultraviolet light), others are well visible.

Here are the most common marks:

The Affordable Cebu website has compiled a complete and comprehensible article: Affordable Cebu 

Pictures of all old and new peso banknotes are here