CAPE TOWN - The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has launched a new public awareness campaign to help you see whether or not the coin and bank notes you have are real or fake.
The campaign was introduced as part of the new Mandela commemorative series of banknotes and R5 coin.
Additionally, SARB released a series of videos to highlight what makes the notes and coin special, as well as a number of security features implemented in the notes.
How to check your coin:
undefined1. SARB said it was important to check that your commemorative banknotes are real when using them for transactions.
2. Check for two main components when dealing with the commemorative coin such as:
3. The first is that the ‘1918’ on the face of the coin should change to ‘2018’ when viewing it at an angle.
4.The second security feature is to check whether you can see ‘SARB’ and ‘R5’ inscribed on the outer edge of the coin.
How to check your notes:
undefined1. You need to be able to feel the raised lines on the front-bottom left and right-hand side of the note.
2. Check for two matching numbers on the back of the note.
3. The ink contained within the big number of the front of the note changes colour when viewed at from different angles.
4. You should also be able to see a watermark of Mandela when looking at the front of the note and holding it towards a light source.
5. You should be able to feel raised printing on Mandela’s face on the front of the note.
6. There are a series of ‘little dots’ you should be able to see on the front-left and back-right of the notes.
7. The shiny security thread down the centre of the note should change colour when viewing it from a different angle.
8. You should be able to see a ‘complete animal’ on the bottom-left of the note when holding it towards a light source.
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