The Bank of Korea Discovers 116 Counterfeit Bills in the First Half of the Year... Many Are '5000 Won Notes'

Photo by Asia Economy DB

The Bank of Korea announced on the 12th that it discovered 116 counterfeit bills worth approximately 1,279,000 KRW in the first half of this year.

According to the Bank of Korea, a total of 116 counterfeit bills were found during the handling of currency in the first half of this year or reported to the Bank by financial institutions or individuals, an increase of 17 bills (17.2%) compared to the same period last year (99 bills). Compared to the previous period (53 bills), it increased by 63 bills (118.9%).

The Bank of Korea explained, "Although the number of counterfeit bills discovered remains at a low level, it has increased recently due to the normalization of face-to-face transactions."

The total face value of counterfeit bills was 1,279,000 KRW, an increase of 114,000 KRW (9.8%) compared to the same period last year (1,165,000 KRW).

By denomination, there were 73 bills of 5,000 KRW, 26 bills of 10,000 KRW, 13 bills of 50,000 KRW, and 4 bills of 1,000 KRW.

Most of the 5,000 KRW bills were counterfeit notes with serial number '77246' produced by a large-scale counterfeiter arrested in June 2013 (70 bills), with only 3 newly discovered counterfeit bills.

By discoverer, counterfeit bills were found as follows: 32 by the Bank of Korea, 72 by financial institutions, and 12 by individuals, mainly during the currency handling process by the Bank of Korea and financial institutions.

By region, 58 counterfeit bills were found in the Seoul metropolitan area including Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon, accounting for the majority (80.6%).

On the 6th, the Bank of Korea awarded the Governor's commendation and a monetary reward to the Dongdaemun Police Station of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Gwangmyeong Police Station of Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency, and Pyeongtaek Police Station of Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency for their outstanding contributions to the arrest of currency counterfeiters.

The Bank of Korea emphasized, "We will continue to closely monitor the trend of counterfeit bill occurrences and strengthen anti-counterfeiting publicity activities to thoroughly prevent the circulation of counterfeit bills."

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