Awareness heightened over counterfeit bills in anticipation of the release of new $20 note

 The Bank of Canada is educating business owners on counterfeit bills ahead of the release of the new $20 note.

The new bill enters distribution November 7th and is similar to the $50 and $100 notes already in circulation.

Allan Paquet , a senior analyst at the Bank of Canada says with the holiday season quickly approaching, businesses should be on high alert for counterfeit money.

“There are a lot of things going on during this season, but what we want to make sure is they don’t forget,” he said.

The new notes are printed on polymer, a durable film.

Paquet says they have several security features including transparent windows and metallic images.

“Just by touching the money, Canadians can recognize these bills will be hard to copy. The windows and holographic materials inside of them, as well as the key features brought from previous generations, like detailed print, ink that’s thicker to touch, the color of our currency. These all make these bills all really hard to copy,” he adds.

The notes were designed to be hard to counterfeit but easy to check for fraud.

If you can’t tell by feeling or comparing the bill to another, you can hold it up to a light and look through the frosted maple leaf where a circle of numbers matching the bill’s value should appear.

Sgt. Christy Woods of Lethbridge Regional Police’s Economic Crimes Unit says businesses should also keep an eye out for counterfeit current paper bills.

“In anticipation of the polymer release with the great security features, we often see an increase of counterfeit bills being passed. They panic trying to get them out before the polymer takes over,” she said.

Any Canadian organization with a machine accepting bank notes is encouraged to contact their supplier to ensure it’s capable of accepting the new $20 bill.