Over 1,700 Counterfeit Bills Found in Over 3 Years... Bank of Korea Issues 600 Warning Notices to Banks

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunbyeol Kim] Over the past three years, a total of 1,726 counterfeit bills have been discovered nationwide, and the Bank of Korea has sent 595 cautionary notices to individual banks, it has been confirmed.

According to data on the 'Status of Counterfeit Bills Discovered by Region in the Past Three Years' submitted by the Bank of Korea to National Assembly member Seo Il-jun (Geoje, Gyeongnam, People Power Party), 1,221 bills were found in 2017, 231 in 2018, 187 in 2019, and 87 bills were discovered in the first half of this year.

By region, after the Seoul metropolitan area, Gangwon Province and Daejeon had the highest numbers, followed by Daegu and Chungcheong.

The Bank of Korea conducts a 'currency examination' to determine whether returned money is usable. According to the data on the 'Status of Counterfeit Bills Discovered During the Bank of Korea's Examination Process in the Past Three Years' obtained by Representative Seo, 396 cases (3.38 million KRW) in 2017, 369 cases (3.262 million KRW) in 2018, and 88 cases (927,000 KRW) in 2019 of counterfeit bills were discovered. This year, until August, 49 cases totaling 399,000 KRW worth of counterfeit bills were found at the Bank of Korea. This amounts to a total of 902 counterfeit bills discovered over the past three years.

As a result, the number of cautionary notices sent by the Bank of Korea to individual banks has also increased. Looking at the status of cautionary notices sent by the Bank of Korea to each bank regarding counterfeit bills over the past three years, 244 notices were sent in 2017, 255 in 2018, 60 in 2019, and 36 notices were sent until August this year. In total, 595 cautionary notices have been issued over the past three years.

Representative Seo emphasized, "Some counterfeit bills are produced with sophisticated methods, such as separately manufacturing and attaching holograms, making them difficult to identify at a glance, which raises concerns about potential harm to the public." He added, "Financial institutions need to actively prepare countermeasures against increasingly sophisticated counterfeit bill techniques."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.