International Journal of Research in Computer and ISSN (Online) 2278- 5841

Communication Technology, Vol 3, Issue 1, January- 2014 ISSN (Print) 2320- 5156

Fake Currency Detection Using Image Processing and Other

Standard Methods
D.Alekhya , G.DeviSuryaPrabha , G.VenkataDurgaRao
Anil Neerukonda Institute of Technology And Sciences (ANITS), Visakhapatnam
dalekhya2011@gmail .com , [email protected], [email protected]
ABSTRACT: are used to show that none of the valuable metal has
Counterfeit money is imitation been scraped off. Reserve bank uses several techniques
currency produced without the legal sanction of the to detect fake currency.
state or government. Producing or using this fake
money is a form of fraud or forgery. Counterfeiting is HISTORY:
as old as money itself, and is sufficiently prevalent
throughout history that it has been called "the world's
This counterfeiting is so famous such
second oldest profession.. This has led to the increase
that it is considered as second world profession in
of corruption in our country hindering country’s
earlier days. Coinage of money began in the Greek city
growth. Common man became a scapegoat for the
of Lydia around 600 B.C. Before the introduction of
fake currency circulation, let us suppose that a common
paper money, the most prevalent method of
man went to a bank to deposit money in bank but only
counterfeiting involved mixing base metals with pure
to see that some of the notes are fake, in this case he
gold or silver. A common practice was to "shave" the
has to take the blame. Counterfeiting, of whatever kind,
edges of a coin. This is known as “CLIPPING”. Every
may be that has been occurring ever since humans
year, millions of "fake" notes are passed over retail
grasped the concept of valuable items, and there has
counters and the majority are not identified as
been an ongoing race between certifier like (banks, for
example) and counterfeiter ever since. Some of the counterfeit until they're examined by the bank. Most
effects that counterfeit money has on society include a often, retail associates don't know how to identify
reduction in the value of real money; and inflation due legitimate money or they rely on the simplest of all
to more money getting circulated in the society or anti-counterfeiting tools; the counterfeit pen.
economy which in turn dampen our economy and Unfortunately, relying on the pen alone is not going to
growth - an unauthorized artificial increase in the catch anyone other than an amateur who is printing
money supply; a decrease in the acceptability of paper money on a laser printer.
money; and losses. And this Some of the methods to
detect fake currency are water marking, optically COMMONLY USED METHODS TO DETECT
variable ink, security thread, latent image, techniques FAKE NOTES:
like counterfeit detection pen and using MATLAB.
1. See through Register
Key words- Fake currency, currency circulation,
counterfeit detection. The small floral design printed both on the front
(hollow) and back (filled up) of the note in the middle
INTRODUCTION: of the vertical band next to the Watermark has an
accurate back to back registration. The design will
The Reserve Bank is only one which appear as floral design when seen against the light.
has the sole authority to issue bank notes in India.
Reserve Bank, like other central banks the world over, 2. Water marking
changes the design of bank notes from time to time.
Traditionally, anti-counterfeiting measures involved The Mahatma Gandhi Series of banknotes contain the
including fine detail with raised intaglio printing on Mahatma Gandhi watermark with a light and shade
bills which allows non-experts to easily spot forgeries. effect and multi-directional lines in the watermark
On coins, milled or marked with parallel grooves edges

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 International Journal of Research in Computer and ISSN (Online) 2278- 5841
Communication Technology, Vol 3, Issue 1, January- 2014 ISSN (Print) 2320- 5156

window. and Rs.20 notes, a vertical band on the right side of the
Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait contains a latent image
showing the respective denominational value in
numeral. The latent image is visible only when the note
is held horizontally at eye level.

8. Micro lettering
This feature appears between the vertical band and
Mahatma Gandhi portrait. It always contains the word
3. Optically Variable Ink ‘RBI’ in Rs.5 and Rs.10. The notes of Rs.20 and above
also contain the denominational value of the notes in
micro letters. This feature can be seen well under a
This is a new feature included in the Rs.1000 and magnifying glass.
Rs.500 notes with revised color scheme introduced in
November 2000. The numeral 1000 and 500 on the
obverse of Rs.1000 and Rs.500 notes respectively is 9. Identification Mark
printed in optically variable ink viz., a color-shifting
ink. The colour of the numeral 1000/500 appears green Each note has an unique mark of it. A special feature in
when the note is held flat but would change to blue intaglio has been introduced on the left of the
when the note is held at an angle. watermark window on all notes except Rs.10/- note.
This feature is in different shapes for various
4. Fluorescence denominations (Rs. 20-Vertical Rectangle, Rs.50-
Square, Rs.100-Triangle, Rs.500-Circle, and Rs.1000-
Number panels of the notes are printed in fluorescent Diamond) and helps the visually impaired to identify
ink. The notes also have optical fibres. Both can be the denomination.
seen when the notes are exposed to ultra-violet lamp.

5.SecurityThread COUNTERFEIT DETECTION PEN:

The Rs.500 and Rs.100 notes have a security thread A counterfeit pen is simply an
with similar visible features and inscription ‘Bharat’ (in inexpensive device that is designed to determine if a
Hindi), and ‘RBI’. When held against the light, the currency note is genuine or counterfeit. The pen
security thread on Rs.1000, Rs.500 and Rs.100 can be contains a tincture of iodine as ink which, when
seen as one continuous line. The Rs.5, Rs.10, Rs.20 drawn over a legitimate bill, will remain amber or
and Rs.50 notes contain a readable, fully embedded brown. According to one manufacturer the ink will
windowed security thread with the inscription ‘Bharat’ turn black if the bill is counterfeit.
(in Hindi), and ‘RBI’. The security thread appears to
the left of the Mahatma's portrait. Working of counterfeit pen:

6. Intaglio Printing The iodine in the pen reacts with

starch, which, is the primary component that makes
The portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, the Reserve Bank white paper look brighter. Most commercial paper,
seal, guarantee and promise clause, Ashoka Pillar made from wood pulp, is brown unless bleached and
Emblem on the left, RBI Governor's signature are starched. If there is no starch present in the paper then
printed in intaglio i.e. in raised prints, which can be felt the pen will indicate - by remaining amber- that the
by touch, in Rs.20, Rs.50, Rs.100, Rs.500 and Rs.1000 bill is legitimate.
notes.
How counterfeiters defeat this pen:
7. Latent image
The iodine in the pen reacts with
On the obverse side of Rs.1000, Rs.500, Rs.100, Rs.50 starch that makes white paper look brighter. Most

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 International Journal of Research in Computer and ISSN (Online) 2278- 5841
Communication Technology, Vol 3, Issue 1, January- 2014 ISSN (Print) 2320- 5156

commercial paper, made from wood pulp, is brown Else

unless bleached and starched. If there is no starch
present in the paper then the pen will indicate - by Disp (‘images are not same’)
remaining amber - that the bill is legitimate. End;

Other techniques: Code for creation or concatenation of two images:

The best anti counterfeit device we can buy for the Close all;
money is an Ultraviolet counterfeit detection scanner.
Best used in highly lit point of sale locations, the UV Clear all;
detector identifies the ultraviolet security features
present in most currencies. By simply placing the bill
in the detector, counterfeit currency is immediately i=imread ('img1.jpg');
identified, without the need for an employee to closely
examine the bill. j=imread ('img2.jpg');

MATLAB technique: figure, imshow (i); figure,

imshow (j); r1= (I (:,:,1));

We can split the red, blue, green components
of a picture and name them as r1, g1, b1 which
k= ones (194,259); g1=
correspond to image i.e. original currency note.
Consider second image that is note to be tested. Split
this image to components r2, b2, g2. Construct a new (I (:,: , 2)); b1= (I
image with components as r1, g2, b1 or r2, g1, b1 or
b2,g1,b1.But r1,g2,b1 combination is most preferred (:,:,3));
because human eye is sensitive to green component
and most of our images contains maximum green r2= (j (:,:,1)); g2=
component so that our output image will be much
easier to identify the fake note more efficiently. Now (j (:,:,2));
compare newly constructed image with
image1.Calculate the threshold value of equivalence by b2=(j(:,:,3));
calculating the standard deviation. If equivalence is
above 40% then we can consider it as original note. We i1=cat(3,r1,g2,
consider 40% value because note may be damaged. In
addition to these we also apply above specified 10 b1); figure,
methods. Parameters for measure of comparing images
are Mean Square Error (MSE), Peak Signal to Noise
imshow(i1);
Ratio (PSNR in dB), and structural Content (SC).
Code for comparing two images:
RESULT and DISCUSSION
A=imread (‘image1.jpg’); %Reading images as array This is original 1000 note scanned.
to variable a and b.

B=imread (‘image2.jpg’);

C=corr2 (a, b) %Finding the correlation between two

images

If (c==1)

Disp (‘images are same’)

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 International Journal of Research in Computer and ISSN (Online) 2278- 5841
Communication Technology, Vol 3, Issue 1, January- 2014 ISSN (Print) 2320- 5156

Coll., Chennai, India ; Sekaran, S. ; Vaikundam,S;

This is the fake note scanned. Kumarasamy,A.M.

2.Improved fake fake currency detector –NM Joshi,RP

Bajpai,G.Mitra.

3.Fake currency detection & stenography-

E.Muthukumaran,N.Mohanraju.

4.Counterfeirt money and anti-survelliance measures-

C.Yanqing.

5.Limitations on the counterfeit detection pen-

Resultant Image RA.clay.

6.Counterfeit document detection apparatus-

GP.Mciney.

7.Develpoment of fast and nondestructive procedure

for distinguishing fake notes

A.Vila, N.Ferror.

When we combine two various components of

two images then if note to be tested is original then
only at the place of number we get variation. But in
this example we took a fake note and applied the same
code, we can observe that the image overlapping is not
done correctly. We can also see that the resultant image
is blurred indicating fake note. So we can confirm that
it is a fake note.

Conclusion:
There are many methods for
identifying a fake note which we have discussed and
each one has its own significance. One should be
cautious while detecting a fake note. Our paper enables
a layman to identify a fake note and empower every
citizen to detect fake notes which may reduce
corruption in our country. Our MATLAB technique
when deployed in mobile phone with a scanner or a
camera so that it will detect fake notes which gives the
power to a common man to control fake currency
circulation in our country.

REFERENCES:

1.Counterfeit Currency Detection Technique Using

Image Processing, Polarization Principle and
Holographic Technique(IEEE) By Santhanam, K. ;
Dept. of Electron.&Instrum. Eng., Sri Sairam Eng.

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