One of the great things about vending machine business models is that an employee is not required to be hired as a cashier or to interact with customers during the sale. However, this leaves vending machines sales at a higher risk of accepting counterfeit currency. Vending machine developers have had to constantly update their machine’s capability to detect counterfeit bills. Since Canadian currency is also being modified on an ongoing basis to try and deter the creation of counterfeit bills, machines also have to be compatible with newer and older currency designs.

In 2012 the government designed and released a new type of bill with the sole purpose of staying ahead of counterfeiting threats. Counterfeiting skyrocketed between 2001 and 2004. Since then it has become an important role of the Bank of Canada to circulate new bills intermittently.

beautiful woman with magnifying glass and cash money.

New Canadian Money Anti-Counterfeit Features

New features that have helped minimize the risk of counterfeit banknotes include:

  • A holographic stripe;
  • ghost imagine watermark;
  • security thread;
  • transparent number;
  • raised ink; and
  • Fluorescence that makes the currency harder to copy.

Not only do these features make it extremely difficult for these new bills to be replicated, but new vending machines are designed to pick up on some of these features, to help the machine decipher any bills that may not be legitimate, and decline their use.

It is the responsibility of the Bank of Canada to respond to any suspicion of counterfeiting in a variety of ways.

  • researching and developing new notes with innovative security features that are both easy to check and hard to counterfeit
  • working with police agencies and prosecutors to monitor and respond to counterfeiting activity
  • teaching Canadians – especially those who handle cash on the job – how to quickly check their bank notes
  • providing Canadians with quality notes, and a secure form of payment that they can use with confidence

It is important to remember that if counterfeit bills have circulated, many people using the fake notes will have no idea that it is in fact a counterfeit bill. If you suspect that a note is counterfeit because you cannot complete a transaction (for example, a vending machine will not accept it), you should give the note to the local police, and they will determine its status. If it turns out to be real, don’t worry, you will get it back!

If your vending machines are out of date and do not accept new bills, contact Regional Vending today and we’ll set you up with modern vending machines for whatever need you require.