‘The ways and means of counterfeiting banknotes that fraudsters employ are extremely varied. At the same time, plenty of different ways to protect the notes have been designed and implemented by now. Yet people themselves also need to be careful when handling large portions of cash and large denomination banknotes. One has to know how to tell genuine money from counterfeit notes and has to put this knowledge to practice, while transactions involving a lot of money are better off when dealt with by banks,’ says SKB-Bank’s Operating Department’s Director Larisa Larionova.

In the meantime, Sverdlovsk Region’s public prosecution authorities report the number of instances when people tried to use fake notes to pay for something went up by 70% over the first five months of 2008 compared to January-May 2007. All in all, fake notes have been used 796 times since the beginning of the year.