FAKE CURRENCY DETECTION USING
IMAGE PROCESSING
ABSTRACT:
Counterfeit money is imitation currency produced without the legal sanction of the state or
government. Producing
or using
this
fake money is a form of fraud or
forgery.Counterfeiting, of whatever kind, may be that has been occurring ever since
humans grasped the concept of valuable items, and there has been an ongoing race
between certifier like (banks, for example) and counterfeiter ever since. Some of the
effects that counterfeit money has on society include a reduction in the value of real money;
and inflation due to more money getting circulated in the society or economy which in
turn dampen our economy and growth.Some of the methods to detect fake currency are
water marking, optically variable ink, security thread, latent image, techniques like
counterfeit detection pen. All of the Mahatma Gandhi series banknotes contain the Mahatma
Gandhi watermark with a light and shade effect. It also contains multi-directional lines in the
watermark window.Thus by using MATLAB we can detect fake notes.
Key words- Fake currency, currency circulation, counterfeit detection,Matlab.
HISTORY:
This counterfeiting is so famous such that it is considered as second world profession in
earlier days. Coinage of money began in the Greek city of Lydia around 600 B.C. Before the
introduction of paper money, the most prevalent method of counterfeiting involved mixing
base metals with pure gold or silver. A common practice was to "shave" the edges of a coin.
This is known as CLIPPING. Every year, millions of "fake" notes are passed over retail
counters and the majority are not identified as counterfeit until they're examined by the bank.
Most often, retail associates don't know how to identify legitimate money or they rely on the
simplest of all anti-counterfeiting tools; the counterfeit pen. Unfortunately, relying on the pen
alone is not going to catch anyone other than an amateur who is printing money on a laser
printer.
INTRODUCTION:
The Reserve Bank is only one which has the sole authority to issue bank notes in India.
Reserve Bank, like other central banks the world over, changes the design of bank notes from
time to time. Traditionally, anti-counterfeiting measures involved including fine detail with
raised intaglio printing on bills which allows non-experts to easily spot forgeries. On coins,
milled or marked with parallel grooves edges are used to show that none of the valuable
metal has been scraped off. Reserve bank uses several techniques to detect fake currency.
BLOCK DIAGRAM:
Fig:Block diagram of the system
COMMONLY USED METHODS TO DETECT FAKE NOTES:
1. See through Register
The small floral design printed both on the front (hollow) and back (filled up) of the note in
the middle of the vertical band next to the Watermark has an accurate back to back
registration. The design will appear as floral design when seen against the light.
2. Water marking
The Mahatma Gandhi Series of banknotes contain the Mahatma Gandhi watermark with a
light and shade effect and multi-directional lines in the watermark window.
3. Optically Variable Ink
This is a new feature included in the Rs.1000 and Rs.500 notes with revised color scheme
introduced in November 2000. The numeral 1000 and 500 on the obverse of Rs.1000 and
Rs.500 notes respectively is printed in optically variable ink viz., a color-shifting ink. The
colour of the numeral 1000/500 appears green when the note is held flat but would change to
blue when the note is held at an angle.
4. Fluorescence
Number panels of the notes are printed in fluorescent ink. The notes also have optical fibres.
Both can be seen when the notes are exposed to ultra-violet lamp.
5.SecurityThread
The Rs.500 and Rs.100 notes have a security thread with similar visible features and
inscription Bharat (in Hindi), and RBI. When held against the light, the security thread on
Rs.1000, Rs.500 and Rs.100 can be seen as one continuous line. The Rs.5, Rs.10, Rs.20 and
Rs.50 notes contain a readable, fully embedded windowed security thread with the inscription
Bharat (in Hindi), and RBI. The security thread appears to the left of the Mahatma's
portrait.
6. Intaglio Printing
The portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, the Reserve Bank seal, guarantee and promise clause,
Ashoka Pillar Emblem on the left, RBI Governor's signature are printed in intaglio i.e. in
raised prints, which can be felt by touch, in Rs.20, Rs.50, Rs.100, Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes.
7. Latent image
On the obverse side of Rs.1000, Rs.500, Rs.100, Rs.50 and Rs.20 notes, a vertical band on the
right side of the Mahatma Gandhis portrait contains a latent image showing the respective
denominational value in numeral. The latent image is visible only when the note is held
horizontally at eye level.
8. Micro lettering
This feature appears between the vertical band and Mahatma Gandhi portrait. It always
contains the word RBI in Rs.5 and Rs.10. The notes of Rs.20 and above also contain the
denominational value of the notes in micro letters. This feature can be seen well under a
magnifying glass.
9. Identification Mark
Each note has an unique mark of it. A special feature in intaglio has been introduced on the
left of the watermark window on all notes except Rs.10/- note. This feature is in different
shapes for various denominations (Rs. 20-Vertical Rectangle, Rs.50Square, Rs.100-Triangle,
Rs.500-Circle, and Rs.1000Diamond) and helps the visually impaired to identify the
denomination.
COUNTERFEIT DETECTION PEN:
A counterfeit pen is simply an inexpensive device that is designed to determine if a currency
note is genuine or counterfeit. The pen contains a tincture of iodine as ink which, when drawn
over a legitimate bill, will remain amber or brown. According to one manufacturer the ink
will turn black if the bill is counterfeit.
Working of counterfeit pen:
The iodine in the pen reacts with starch, which, is the primary component that makes white
paper look brighter. Most commercial paper, made from wood pulp, is brown unless bleached
and starched. If there is no starch present in the paper then the pen will indicate - by
remaining amber- that the bill is legitimate.
Other techniques:
The best anti counterfeit device we can buy for the money is an Ultraviolet counterfeit
detection scanner. Best used in highly lit point of sale locations, the UV detector identifies the
ultraviolet security features present in most currencies. By simply placing the bill in the
detector, counterfeit currency is immediately identified, without the need for an employee to
closely examine the bill.
MATLAB technique:
We can split the red, blue, green components of a picture and name them as r1, g1, b1 which
correspond to image i.e. original currency note. Consider second image that is note to be
tested. Split this image to components r2, b2, g2. Construct a new image with components as
r1, g2, b1 or r2, g1, b1 or b2,g1,b1.But r1,g2,b1 combination is most preferred because
human eye is sensitive to green component and most of our images contains maximum green
component so that our output image will be much easier to identify the fake note more
efficiently. Now compare newly constructed image with image1.Calculate the threshold value
of equivalence by calculating the standard deviation. If equivalence is above 40% then we
can consider it as original note. We consider 40% value because note may be damaged. In
addition to these we also apply above specified 10 methods. Parameters for measure of
comparing images are Mean Square Error (MSE), Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR in dB),
and structural Content (SC).
RESULT:
This is original 1000 note scanned.
This is the fake note scanned.
Resultant Image
When we combine two various components of two images then if note to be tested is original
then only at the place of number we get variation. But in this example we took a fake note
and applied the same code, we can observe that the image overlapping is not done correctly.
We can also see that the resultant image is blurred indicating fake note. So we can confirm
that it is a fake note.
Conclusion:
This project proposed fake currency detection using image processing. In image preprocessing the image was cropped, adjusted and smoothed. Then the image converted into
gray scale. After conversion the edges are detected. In edge detection used the sobel operator.
Next the image segmentation is applied. After segmentation the features are extracted. Finally
compared and find the currency original or fake.
Future Extraction:
In future this work will be extended as to apply the classification to compare the original or
forgery currency.
