Fake money more prevalent in KZN and Gauteng

JOHANNESBURG - KwaZulu-Natal remains the number one province where fake and illicit bank notes are found, followed by Gauteng.

The South African Reserve Bank says despite this, currency counterfeiting has declined significantly in the country.

Interestingly, the R100 banknote is the most counterfeited and is the most circulated.

Five months ago, the Reserve Bank launched new banknotes with extra security features after ten years.

The central bank believes that these features and public education has led to the decline of fake bank notes.

Head of the Currency Management Department at the SARB, Pearl Kgalegi, says they are working together with law enforcement agencies to remove fake bank notes from the streets.

"We upgrade our banknotes. Recently, you have seen on 3 May we upgraded the currency.," Kgalegi said.

"Both bank notes and coins with new and advanced security features and those make it too difficult for counterfeiters to try to emulate our bank notes. So that constant reviewing and upgrading of bank notes help also to bring down the level of counterfeits. Another thing we work very closely with the police. We train them how to identify counterfeit notes," Kgalegi explained.