Central Bank Urges Vigilance While Making Cash Transactions

The Central Bank of Barbados wishes to remind the general public to exercise vigilance, when carrying out their cash transactions.

Although the incidence of counterfeit currency is small, it tends to be higher at times when events bring large numbers of persons into the island for a period of time and there is a corresponding increase in cash transactions.

The best approach is to be familiar with the “feel” and the security features of genuine notes and to have a genuine note available for comparison in cases where there is doubt.

Some of the easily visible security features are:

Watermark
The watermark is found on the left of banknotes and depicts the map of Barbados. It contains light as well as shaded areas and is not a mere outline. The watermark can be viewed when the note is held up to the light.

Security Thread
All banknotes contain a security thread. On lower denominations, the thread is invisible when the note is lying flat, but becomes a thin black line when the note is held up to light. On higher denominations, the thread is partially visible and appears to be a series of interrupted silver lines when the note is lying flat. When the note is held up to light, the thread becomes a solid thick black line with the text CBB$20, CBB$50 or CBB$100 depending on the denomination.

See-through Feature
On the left side (front view) of all banknotes, there is a see-through feature: a partial image that corresponds to another partial image on the back of the note. When the note is held up to light, the see-through feature forms a complete image that is perfectly aligned. The image of the see-through feature varies by denomination: a windmill ($2), cricket stumps and ball ($5), a dolphin ($10), a pelican ($20), the broken trident ($50), a dolphin ($100).

Intaglio over Foil
On the right side of the $50 and $100 note there is a foil feature: an aquamarine pelican on the $50 and a gold dolphin on the $100. Overprinted on this foil is the Pride of Barbados flower. These images are intricately detailed and highly reflective, but on counterfeit notes they lack the level of detail and appear flat and dull.

Counterfeits, which come into the possession of the public, should be handed over to the Police Department, giving the details under which they were received.