Counterfeit VND200,000 banknotes that are meticulously faked have recently been circulated in the market, but the public can still distinguish them by the naked eye, the State Bank of Vietnam said in a statement Tuesday. The fake banknotes are printed on normal plastic paper, instead of polymer like the authentic ones, so they are easily torn, the SBV said. The counterfeits are also less durable and elastic than the polymer notes, so the public can thus check their banknotes by attempting to slightly tear the notes’ edges.

 This photo shows the real banknote (top) and the counterfeit one with the distinctions marked. Photo: ANTD

Another distinction is that the fake notes are not printed with optically variable ink (OVI). The ink, an anti-counterfeiting measure used on modern banknotes, displays two distinct colors depending on the angle the bill is viewed at. Other Vietnamese banknotes printed with the OVI are the VND100,000 and VND500,000. The public is also advised to check the small transparent window on the notes to see if there is a hidden image on it, which distinguishes the authentic from the counterfeit bill. When exposed to the ultraviolet light, the serial numbers on the fake banknotes do not produce the same luminescence as those of the real ones.