A Taxi driver from Moyale, Marsabit County, was nabbed with fake currency while on his normal day business during the second week of June 2019.
The driver known as Boniface Mwangi, had gone to Mpesa with intention of depositing the money, before he was informed by the Mpesa attendant that the money was fake.
Apparently, he claimed that he had been paid sh. 3000 by his client he had taken to neighboring Ethiopia, not knowing part of the cash was fake.
“They (passengers) alighted from a Nairobi bus and said they wanted to cross over to Ethiopia. I took them, waited for them as they shopped and dropped them back at a Mandera-bound bus after which they handed me Sh3,000 as we had agreed,” Kamau narrated.
He said that it was his first time he had handled the cash, which was launched June 1, by Central Bank (CBK) Governor Patrick Njoroge during the Mashujaa fete in Narok County.
“When the M-Pesa agent told me the notes are fake, I went to a bank and it’s then that I was told only Sh1,000 was genuine. They wanted to arrest me but I was lucky because I knew the police officers at the bank. I just explained to them and they understood me,” he said.
Security Features You Should Know About New Kenyan Currency
To keep you safe from getting conned, here are key security facts you need to watch out when new currency comes in handy.
- The new notes are evenly colour-coded with different shades of colour that has a unique security feature. The notes also show Kenya’s rich culture and natural habitations
- The Sh.50 note embraces green energy, Sh.100 – Agriculture, Sh.200 – Social Culture and Sh.500 – tourism while Sh.1000 shows governance on the notes appearances
- When you handle the notes, you should be able to feel the word written as ‘KENYA’
- Also, touching the notes, one should be able to feel the value of the notes (Such as sh.50, sh.100, sh.200, sh.500 and sh.1000). With this unique feature, the blind can easily handle the cash with ease as opposed to the old generation
- Raising the note against source of light such as the sun, one should be able to spot a lion on the note. The watermark of the currency, head of a lion and word ‘CBK’ should be seen
- Also, a keen look at the notes reveals that the security thread appears as a continuous line
- The notes have different bars on their edges such that Sh.50 has one bar, Sh.100- 2 bars. sh.200 – 3 bars , Sh.500 – 4 bars and Sh.1000 has 5 bars
- All the bank notes will change from red to green on their security threads when the notes are titled at a certain angle. Besides additional rainbow colours have been added on the threads of sh.200, sh.500 and sh.1000
- At the back of the notes, the golden band shows the value of the notes
- The notes can easily be differentiated from the fake ones by either feeling them, titling or turning them back and front to observe the key security features
More details on the graphic presentation below
Old currency
