Bank Indonesia shoots down viral posts claiming new rupiah bills are being counterfeited

The new rupiah bills and coins. Photo: Bank Indonesia
The new rupiah bills and coins. Photo: Bank Indonesia

If you’re like us, you’ve only occasionally came into possession of the slick new rupiah bills that were launched last year, but already there have been claims that there may be counterfeit versions of the new bank notes out there.

These claims have been going around on social media over the past few days, with posts showing the differences between a purported fake and an authentic new bill:

https://www.facebook.com/arief.akhmad.18/posts/10209078396063162?match=dWFuZyBua3JpLHBhbHN1


Bank Indonesia (BI), Indonesia’s central bank, denied the claims in these viral posts, saying that there have been no official complaints from the public about the new rupiah bills being counterfeited.

“Stories that the new bills are being faked are hoaxes,” said BI Deputy Governor Mirza Adityaswara, as quoted by Detik today.

Be that as it may, we must note that BI not receiving any official complaints does not necessarily negate the possibility that the new bills can be faked.

In any case, the new bills were designed with even more security features compared to the last version to better prevent counterfeiting. One such feature is the updated version of the rectoverso technology, which Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab claimed contained hammer and sickle symbols and thus, through some fuzzy paranoid logic, pointed to a possible communist coup in Indonesia. He is being formally investigated by the police for spreading the misinformation.



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