by CARMEL HAYNES

LOOK OUT for fake foreign currency, with thousands of visitors converging on the island for Cricket World Cup 2007.

This warning came yesterday from Damian Kwiatkowski, regional manager for international currency printer De La Rue Currency, as he spoke at the Central Bank's annual public education Know Your Money seminar at Frank Collymore Hall.

"The counterfeit situation is serious because any one counterfeit is serious, but it's not happening every day . . . . But, you have got 2007 coming so you want to remain vigilant about your own notes and the foreign notes.

"If you're not sure about foreign notes, the best thing is to say: 'I'm not accepting it, I want Barbados notes,' and that's fine," he said.

"Criminal gangs will take a long time and invest a lot of money to be able to produce a lot of counterfeits. Barbados wouldn't be a target for them so much, but the US dollar would be because you can spend the US dollar worldwide and the Euro as well," he told the audience.

Victor Springer, deputy Central Bank governor responsible for operations, confirmed to the media after the seminar that fake US dollars were the most prevalent counterfeit currencies seen here while the Barbadian fakes were not very sophisticated, nor seen in large volumes or regularly enough to present a major problem.

Kwiatkowski said counterfeiters would often try to pass off the fake notes inserted in bundles of real notes, late at night or in times of great activity, such as during the Christmas season.

The currency expert pointed out taxi drivers should check fares they got late at night, as counterfeiters might try to take advantage of their desire to end their shift.

In highlighting the features of genuine notes, Kwiatkowski urged his audience to look for the tell-tale watermarks, intaglio printing (which caused words and letters to be indented into the paper), the crisp sound when new notes were flapped, the shiny metallic thread and foil images and, in the case of the Euro, holographic images.

He added that certain aspects of the notes would also fluoresce brightly under an ultraviolet light, although the paper of the note itself should not glow.

Kwiatkowski stressed that vigilance meant checking for all the features, not just one or two, in attempting to verify the authenticity of the bank note.