In Russia, the specifics of counterfeiting rubles and dollars have been revealed

Why does the US currency suffer more often?

For every million ruble banknotes in Russia, there are only four counterfeit ones. That is, according to statistics, the level of counterfeiting in our country is generally noticeably lower than in the countries of the Western world. It would seem that our financial system has a reason to be proud: domestic banknotes have an ultra-high degree of protection. But, according to experts, there are other reasons, for example, accelerating inflation, which makes this area of ​​illegal activity frankly unprofitable.

According to the Bank of England, in the UK one banknote is counterfeited per 30 thousand, in the USA – one in 10 thousand, in Australia the figure is 9 banknotes per million, and in the European Union – 13 per million. With America, everything is clear: on the one hand, the cash dollar has no competitors – neither in terms of versatility and ease of use, nor in terms of the volume of cash in people’s hands. On the other hand, “green” bills (especially old ones) are much easier to counterfeit than the same euros.

As for Russia, today the Central Bank assesses the degree of security of ruble banknotes as quite high, while it does not cease to take measures to ensure that there are even fewer counterfeits. So, several years ago, the regulator began a campaign to modernize paper money and introduce new banknotes, in particular, in denominations of 200 and 2000 rubles. As part of this process, rubles acquire not only a new appearance, but also additional “lines of defense.” At the same time, according to analysts, the situation is to some extent influenced by the constantly growing share of non-cash payments in the structure of transactions. At the moment in Russia it is 82%, which is 1.5-2 times higher than in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Greece, and corresponds to the level achieved in Sweden, Norway and the UK.

“The most common counterfeits are bills of 1,000 and 5,000 rubles,” says Artem Deev, head of the analytical department at AMarkets. “But doing this while achieving external authenticity is becoming increasingly difficult: today banknotes contain a special thread with three security features. This is a volume effect, a change in the image on the thread depending on the tilt of the banknote, and a hidden color pattern. The watermark that appears when viewed through the detector has been changed. It is impossible for attackers to adequately reproduce all these means at once. At the same time, the number of fraudulent schemes in non-cash transactions is rapidly growing in the country, since the population pays for purchases mainly using plastic cards and smartphones.”

Low-denomination money is not counterfeited in Russia (not justified by cost), but high-denomination money, of which there was so much in circulation until recently, is under the special control of the Central Bank. The regulator periodically changes the design of banknotes, confusing counterfeiters. In addition, says financial analyst, Candidate of Economic Sciences Mikhail Belyaev, security elements are being replenished with more and more new details: these are various reliefs, microfonts, perforations, metal threads, and color changing at different angles. In this sense, the ruble can give the American currency a head start. The most common counterfeit is a small dollar bill, turned into a large one using simple tools – a sharp blade, ink, a black and green pen. Most often, a dollar is turned into a stolnik by adding a couple of zeros. At the same time, the texture of the paper is preserved, and accordingly, the counterfeit banknote is indistinguishable from the real one to the touch.

“But in the current situation with the ruble, the fact is that inflation is growing in Russia,” Belyaev notes. – Accordingly, there is no point in engaging in counterfeiting due to unprofitability: you not only have to spend a lot of money, but also produce enough banknotes to recoup the costs. In addition, this business itself is technically terribly troublesome: you need to get the appropriate paper, paint, and provide all the protection elements. In turn, counterfeit money detection systems have become more advanced. We must not forget about the work of law enforcement agencies involved in “catching” such banknotes. As for the objectively lower status of the ruble (compared to the same dollar), this factor does not affect the internal circulation of money. The Russian currency works in the Russian economy as legal tender; its lack of demand in other markets does not matter to our local scammers.”

The low level of counterfeiting in Russia is due to both the high degree of security of the ruble and its relatively low popularity compared to the dollar and euro. Experts rightly note that sophisticated security technologies limit the range of potential counterfeiters, and the decreasing share of cash payments reduces demand and incentives for this type of criminal activity, sums up BitRiver financial analyst Vladislav Antonov.