Security Layer
Temptation by promissory note
In Expert-criminalogical center they know what the wish to save on protection of securities can turn over into
Those, who has to work in business with securities and promissory notes, know how great a danger to get a counterfeit promissory note is. Promissory notes and paper are counterfeited by the most intricate ways. To the specialists mind, temptation for counterfeiters is too great: after counterfeiting a promissory note for one million dollars or several millions rubles, it is possible to spend the rest of the life without poverty. However, it"s very likely to do it in prison.
What is the present situation with counterfeiting securities? For getting comments "Watermark" addressed the deputy of the chief of the department of the documents, banknotes and securities examination of Expert- criminalogical center Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Evgeney Starikov.
— The peculiarity of the present Russian security market is in the fact that it is going up less dynamically than earlier,- before the crisis 1998 there were more securities issued.
When the security market was just establishing, it required so great quantity of forms that Goznak didn"t cope with the volume of orders, and other printing plants started issuing forms. Specialists of some printing plants had no ideas about security printing production, protective technologies…The forms were printed on usual paper without security features. On the market many substitute papers appeared.
To stabilize the situation, the Finance Ministry made licensing all enterprises, issuing forms of securities, obligatory. Now 20 enterprises, meeting the established demands, have got these licenses. The demands are the followings:
- High- technological manufacturing, allowing to produce the products with protective features, including security paper;
- Existing the regime, supplying proper keeping production and excluding unsanctioned circulation, at the enterprises;
These actions allowed to decrease the flood of false and substitute securities on the developing Russian market.
In general, the quantity of securities was several times reduced. If before the crisis the Finance Ministry registered about 400 securities monthly, so now -about 60 ones. Accordingly the number of counterfeits decreased.
— What are the methods enterprises-manufacturers protect the forms of securities and how criminals imitate them?
— On the first stage of development of the security market criminals used the most primitive methods. When unlimited importation of multiplying and printing technique started, it caused appearing counterfeits, prepared on the full-coloured printing devices (laser printers) or on copying devices .The exterior of such counterfeits was rather good, they had outside similarity with the original. Moreover, while copying some protective features "were moving" onto the counterfeit. Sometimes imitation of watermark was successful, security threads and proper relief were reflected. However, such imitations were found by experts very easy.
Now the situation has changed, and criminals became using more sophisticated ways of imitating documents. Often criminals use the same technologies as enterprises do, producing forms of securities on a legal basis. Concerning all productive expenses economic benefit is existing any way, because the pars of promissory notes cost from thousands till tens million rubles.
For making counterfeits criminals firstly prepare paper with imitation of complex of protective elements: fibers, threads and watermarks. The paper is made two-layers. The water mark is printed by pale paint by usual offset between two layers, the protective thread is installed. Then these two sheets are glued, and the image is placed on them by offset printing. By this the image appeared to be rather good- the thickness of the lines is kept, there is no bulge crossings, no dirty. The form looks like original. Cashiers can hardly differentiate a counterfeit by outside signs.
— How is it possible to differentiate a counterfeit from an original?
— Experts work with microscopes, with devices, registering changes in ultraviolet and infrared radiation.
Evgeney Starikov shows an album, where the counterfeits, having appeared in criminal cases, and the patterns of analogue originals are collected.
In the album there are traveler"s checks, finance bonds and numerous promissory notes. All of them, for the first sight, don"t differ from the originals and some of them look even brighter and nicer.
That is an example of printing forms of securities at an enterprise, not having licenses.
The circulation of promissory notes was printed for Inkombank, and in the evening the printing plant made the second circulation for itself. As the result both Inkombank and the firm, where false audio-and video-technique was bought for a big amount of money, were deceived. If the plant had been under the control of the Finance Ministry, nothing could have happened in principle.
These are promissory notes of the enterprises, which have never existed. And here are promissory notes of the bank "Novator", imitated on usual copying technique. And these are- of "Menatep". As a rule, the most liquid notes of famous enterprises are copied.
The promissory notes of Sberbank are counterfeited by different criminal groups. Look, how many variants of counterfeits are here. All counterfeits look like the pattern very much. Here is a false promissory note with interesting par-1million 260 thousand dollars. Now we"ve got rather dangerous kinds of counterfeits of the banks "Saint-Petersburg" and "Menatep-Saint-Petersburg". I can"t tell the details, because the criminal case over these notes is has not completed yet. But due to technology these papers match original notes.
— You are speaking of complete counterfeited securities. Are the promissory notes imitated partially?
— Yes, partial counterfeits are met rather often also: you can take an original promissory note and increase the figure of the par several times, take other notes away and introduce new ones into.
Very often an emittent, to fill in the promissory note fine, uses a laser printer. Baked ink looks effective, but holds on the paper poorly and leaps away easy. Criminals put toner from the paper away and get a clean form, where with the help of the same laser printer they print other pars. And there are many cases of this kind. For protecting our notes we suggest using either matrix laser or drop-jet one. While using these kinds of printing ink moves deeply into the paper and it is rather difficult to take it out. Yes, recording will be pale, but safe. At last you can make notes with ball-point pen, which is impossible to exterminate or to remove clear. For protecting notes, made by a laser printer, on the promissory note transparent layer is applied on some certain places. In these cases the par will be impossible to change.
— Don"t emittents try to protect their securities as good as possible?
— Any innovation raises the cost of the product. In most cases emittents try to be at the middle of the road.-for the form to be difficult to imitate, but not very expensive in making. But to save much on the forms of securities will not be successful: there are certain instructions of the Finance Ministry that the forms of the papers must meet certain requirements due to the level of protection.
— Modification of the banknote range of Russian ruble is said to reduce the number of qualitative counterfeits. What are you forecasts?
— Unqualitative copies will appear at once. For accepting serious technologies criminals need certain time, as a rule- about a year and a half. Besides, to counterfeit banknote of big denominations, for example 1000-ruble,is unpopular, because it is difficult to get rid of it in turnover. The most popular banknote among counterfeiters is 100-ruble banknote, then 500-ruble one goes. Now there are no good counterfeits of Russian rubles at all- everything is done on copying-multiplying technique but nobody uses printing. Expensive technologies are applied while copying foreign currency abroad. In general I can say that our money were always good protected, especially last modifications with using scientific works of Goznak.
Yelena Kiseleva
