Durasafe is a technology platform that offers the flexibility to meet the needs at both ends of the banknote spectrum. For banknotes that act as a store of value, or where there is a strong counterfeiting risk, it offers a great many options for security to be designed onto the note and built into the substrate itself.  Where the notes have a greater velocity of circulation, and are subjected to greater wear and tear, it offers much enhanced mechanical resistance, while maintaining the features that we all check instinctively: the crispness of paper, watermarks, security threads, and the tactility of intaglio ink.  In this presentation we want to explore how Durasafe offers the best of the paper and polymer worlds to each of the stakeholders in the cash cycle.

The report focuses on the production of excise stamps in the Republic of Belarus. RUE “Minsk Printing Factory”of Goznak is the only manufacturer of excise stamps for tobacco and alcoholic production in the Republic of Belarus. The report presents the latest joint developments of the RUE “Minsk Printing Factory” Goznak in the field of the excise stamps production and new security solutions with unique visual features, which have been used in the production of excise stamps in the Republic of Belarus since 2017.

The analysis of the results of the work of forensic divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia shows that in 2016 the number of counterfeited banknotes of the Bank of Russia and currency of foreign countries detected was 13% less. Currency of foreign countries comprised about 3% of the whole volume of counterfeited money.

The number of examined counterfeited forms of documents of the Russian Federation doubled. Of them, 61% are driving licenses, 17% are compulsory motor insurance policies. We analyzed over 6,500,000 counterfeited federal special and excise stamps for marking alcohol products.

The problem of the so-called “ATM counterfeits” remains important today, with the machine-readable features imitated first of all. The majority of such objects have no formal resemblance to the banknotes.

The report highlights the scientific and technical aspects of the application of fiber lasers for laser personalization and perforation of new generation identification documents. It is reported about working together with the Goznak Research Institute, which resulted in the development of a new security element for ID cards containing a transparent window. In this element, it was possible to realize the personalization of two perspectives of the document owner simultaneously – “full face” and “profile”. The concept of a new security element based on the use of the “enclosed” ablation effect of metallized layers is also described. This security element can be used as ghost image and allows to display grayscale with high resolution, which increases the accuracy of visual identification of the owner of the document. The developed elements and methods for their personalization are protected by Russian patents and can be used in any promising plastic documents.

Used by Police, Immigration, Forensic Institutes and Security Printers for more than 35 years, the VSC range of instruments remains the leading technology for the examination of all questioned documents

VSC workstations provide the forensic examiner with powerful facilities for the interrogation of documents including passports, travel and identity documents, banknotes, cheques, official letters and breeder documents, as well as works of art and other valuable artefacts.

This presentation will provide an informative history of VSC technology together with a look at the current range of VSC instruments and capabilities that combine sophisticated digital imaging and multi-wavelength LED technology with a clear and efficient software interface, to provide a complete solution to the examination of all questioned documents.

The VSC8000 has the ability to analyse inks and papers using infrared examination, hyperspectral imaging and microspectrometry, checking documents for alterations and revealing hidden details and security features on travel & identity documents, banknotes and valuable certificates.

The presentation will also highlight how the software which enables the examiner to detect e-passport data and decode barcodes, Machine Readable Zones (MRZ), and information that has been hidden within images.