As the days near Christmas, the Philippine National Police (PNP) is now doing precautionary measures to prevent the proliferation and circulation of counterfeit money through intense information campaign against fake money and increased public awareness on how to determine and identify these bogus monetary bills.

In the province of Zamboanga Sibugay, the Provincial Police Office (PPO) started to inform the Sbugaynons to be very careful and vigilant with their transactions involving money.

PSupt. Benjamin Avengoza, Assistant Provincial Director for Administration (APDA), stated in an interview that people should be aware of what a fake bill looks like because during Christmas season malls and other stores get very busy with the constant rush and flooding of people and syndicates take advantage of the situation to circulate counterfeit bills.

Avengoza also added that new bills are now circulating and people still can’t figure out what’s fake and what’s not.

“The important thing to do is to let people realize that during Christmas season, many people will take advantage of the busy situation in malls, grocery stores, etc. and will circulate fake bills especially the new ones because a lot of people still can’t identify what’s fake and what’s not. So it is best to always keep their eyes sharp and be vigilant”, said Avengoza.

He (Avengoza) also added that stores should get ultra-violet machines used to determine the authenticity of a monetary bill so that they will not be having difficulty in determining the fake ones against the original ones.

“These counterfeiters prefer to use their fake bills at markets and stores that have no detecting devices so we would recommend that all should have these detectors to ensure that they are not fooled or victimized”, added Avengoza.

Ipil’s Chief of police, PInsp. Edwin Verzon, also commented that people should identify first the physical appearance of their customers and know whether they are suspicious looking or not especially if the said customer is paying using bills with large amount like P1000 and P500 bills.

Verzon also added that stores with no detecting devices should seek the help of those who have one to be sure with their transactions.

If things get to worst, Verzon advised that people to immediately report matters to the PNP so that the latter could respond and act accordingly.

“Cahiers and store owners should know how to identify suspicious looking persons and money. If they are not sure, I urge them to report to the nearest police office any information related to these fake cash so its perpetrators will be put behind bars”, Verzon stressed.

According to the records of the PNP, incidents or activities of counterfeiting increase whenever Christmas is fast approaching since it is gives syndicates a lot of opportunities to spread fake bills.