By Kuben Chetty and Lee Rondganger
Days after the release of the country's new design bank notes, the South African Reserve Bank's (Sarb) has warned that counterfeit notes are already on the streets in some parts of the country.
Now, the Sarb is warning people in KwaZulu-Natal and the rest of the country to learn what the new money looks like and to be aware of the security features.
Dirk Putter of the Sarb said counterfeiters might have taken advantage of the Reserve Bank's communications campaign, and used state-of-the-art technology to reproduce the notes from pictures.
While there have been no official complaints in KwaZulu-Natal by banks, the Reserve Bank has urged all South Africans to know the security features on the new money available in R10, R20, R50, R100 and R200 notes.
Zacharia Tsatsi of Soweto became one of the first victims of the counterfeit notes when he received a fake R20 note in a taxi while on his way to work on Sunday.
"I heard that they were issuing the new notes and when a passenger gave me change for the new R50 in the minibus taxi I did not take notice because I assumed that it was the new note," he said.
"Only when I got out of the taxi and looked at the note properly did I realise it was fake."
Unlike the genuine article, the fake note did not have a shimmering gold band visible on the back when the note was tilted.
It also did not have colour-changing ink on the rand number value at the right-hand bottom of the note.
There was also no watermark (shadow picture of an animal) embedded on the front left-hand side of the note when it was held up to the light.
"The notes were only circulated on February 1, but the campaign to make all South Africans aware was launched in the middle of January," said Putter.
Putter said the ease and speed with which counterfeiters could reproduce notes was of concern.
"Unfortunately, if someone is handed a counterfeit note, there is not much the Reserve Bank can do. They have to go to the police."
"The new notes have a whole lot of security features and people must check the money."
The Reserve Bank says their Makoya Moola (rands you can trust) campaign aims to inform people on the security features of the new notes.
Erik Larsson, spokesperson for Standard Bank, said no problems had been reported at any branches in KwaZulu-Natal.