Counterfeiting is probably as old as money itself. Before the introduction of paper money, the most prevalent method of counterfeiting involved mixing base metals with pure gold or silver.
Let's take a look at some of the hardest banknotes to fake in the world, according to CNBC.
10,000 tenge
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan was one of the last countries of the CIS to introduce a national currency. In 1995, a tenge printing factory was opened in Kazakhstan. The first consignment of tenge was printed abroad, in the United Kingdom. The first coins were minted in Germany.
50 pesos
Mexico
Modern peso and dollar currencies have a common origin in the 15thth century Spanish dollar, most continuing to use its sign, $.
The Mexican peso is the 12th most traded currency in the world, the third most traded in the Americas, and by far the most traded currency in Latin America.
1,000 kronor
Sweden
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. The currency is sometimes referred to as the "Swedish crown" in English (since krona literally means crown in Swedish).
10 dollars
Hong Kong
It is the eighth most traded currency in the world. A bank can issue a Hong Kong dollar only if it has the equivalent exchange in US dollars on deposit.
The currency board system ensures that Hong Kong's entire monetary base is backed with US dollars at the linked exchange rate.
10 rupees
Nepal
Between 1945 and 2007 Nepalese banknotes were issued with the portraits of four different kings. Starting in October 2007 the king's portrait was replaced by Mount Everest on all notes which have been issued since.
1,000 dinars
Iraq
In 2003, new banknotes were issued consisting of six denominations: 50, 250, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, and 25,000 dinar. The notes were similar in design to notes issued by the Central Bank of Iraq in the 1970s and 1980s.
A 500 dinars note was issued a year later, in October 2004.
20 pounds
United Kingdom
Pound Sterling is the fourth most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the US dollar, the euro and the Japanese yen.
Together with those three currencies it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF Special Drawing Rights, with an 11.3 per cent weighting as of 2011.
Sterling is also the third most held reserve currency in global reserves.
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