Please let me know if a 100 trillion dollar banknote can be real is it does not have a serial numbers UV microprint. I got the random specks throughout the note (see image attached) as well but not the numbers…And all other security features are in place, from colour shifting ink to fonts/geometric pattern sharpness and sizes and a dozen of others.
I bought this note very long time ago, in early 2010s when nobody was talking about Chinese fakes at all so could it be that some series were rushed through without the full UV protection?
If you got it that long ago it is unlikely to be a fake. There are features I can see in your image which the counterfeit notes didn't have in 2023.
Are you sure your UV light is good?
It is a coincidence you start this thread, I have two of those notes and found out on Saturday that one of them is fake. I was not happy to find out.
It was given to me as a gift in December last year. The only reason I suspected it was because the infrared appearances differed between that note and the one I had bought years ago.
I then saw the three videos Banknote World put on YouTube, this is the latest:
They are high value notes, and the value will just keep going up. So I predict that more attempts will be made to counterfeit these ones. Here's a counterfeit one being sold now on eBay:
This guy actually went through all the trouble of indicating how you can work out that this is a real note, but look at the tree on the obverse next to the rock. Also the R in trillion has a dot in it, which it shouldn't have:
There are also differences under infrared. Probably there will be differences under X-ray also. I'm going to write an article on this on LinkedIn.
But…if you are surfing for a note, the three obvious ways to spot a fake immediately are:
1. The dot in the R of Trillion (2023 and 2024 fakes)
2. The tree at the side of the rock on the obverse. The leaves should go right up to the rock, see the GIF below. All the fakes have this incorrect tree (so far)
3. Look at the font used in “RESERVE BANK OF ZIMBABWE” paying attention to the B in bank and the two Bs in Zimbabwe. The real note has a much narrower upper loop in the B. All the fakes have this incorrect font (so far)
Here is a composite image I made of my two notes. The one with serial number ending 297 is fake, the 365 is real:
I think it is because of demand. These now sell at £100 easily. The price is going to go up, and this is ultimately going to be a fake that is harder to spot.
There is no electrotype on the original so for now the only real protection we have is fine line work.
All the other things such as fonts and placement of trees you can bet they will fix for the 2026 fake.
There will come a time when the last two holdouts available to the common man are infrared and Xray.
This is a note that people wouldn't expect to see fakes of.
The dot on the R of TRILLION is an easy one to spot, and the difference in the alignment of the two instances of letter N is also a good pointer.
+1
I had a job as a casino dealer & a collector friend who showed us some of his Canadian fakes. As a dealer, I saw many Journey fakes but my buddy showed us a few BIRDS $20.00 notes. The first thing that always struck us was how poorly the fonts of the prefixes & serial numbers were. They put so much effort into recreating all the other design elements (like a passable security strip, microprint, etc) but the serial fonts always looked off (which is something you see in @odd job's superimposed animated gif). I later learned that the banknote printing companies use special "in-house" fonts only that only they have access to (one of the reasons so many copiers get them wrong).
This guy actually went through all the trouble of indicating how you can work out that this is a real note, but look at the tree on the obverse next to the rock. Also the R in trillion has a dot in it, which it shouldn't have:
Great work @Odd Job. You must have done some research on this. I just had a look at mine and after watching 2 of the Youtube links you have posted, my notes are genuine. I bought 5 sets (4 notes 10 to 100 trillion), and I paid very cheap for the notes back in 2009.
1) 10 to 100 Trillion us$4.59 plus postage $1.99, totalling us$6.58, exchange rate at 0.699871
2) 10 to 100 Trillion dollars us$4.25/A$5.98 ex 0.710902 eBay 15/04/2009
3) 10 to 100 Trillion dollars us$4.01/A$5.70 ex 0.703763 eBay 16/04/2009
4) 10 to 100 Trillion dollars us$5.01/A$7.12 ex 0.703763 eBay 16/04/2009
5) 10 to 100 Trillion dollars us$5.02/A$7.13 ex 0.703763 eBay 16/04/2009
As you can see, back then, no one was willing to pay more than $5 for per set through eBay auction.
It's only paper gain and at the moment, I do not plan to sell them as this is a collection. When I bought these notes, the seller also included a 20 trillion note with radar serial number AA 0110110. This is my second unique binary number in my entire collection. The other one is the Northern Ireland Northern Bank 5 pounds 2000 Y2K 10101 commemorative polymer note.
As for the Zimbabwe notes, I do not believe the seller was a collector nor was aware of the extra premium one can get for the replacement or radar notes.
I can see a few are selling on eBay right now and most of them seem to be not genuine, in my opinion. Who knows, by 2026 or 2027, they might successfully produce them like the real one, and perhaps one day, the fake one might be worth more than the genuine one too. 🤣
The surest way is still to look at the fine linework if it was done with a printer (even the highest quality industrial ones). But you will of course not be seeing high resolution pictures on these auctions and if, they will not be from what will receiving in your mail.
I messaged two ebay sellers advising that the notes they are selling are counterfeit. One guy apologised and took the listing down. The other guy did not respond. I reported his listing as counterfeit.
The report was initially routed to an automated process, and this is the email response I got:
I appealed that, this time I attached images of a real note and I marked on the seller's listing the features that proved it was counterfeit.
This is the response I got:
They are either too lazy to check whether the item is counterfeit, or they passed that appeal also to some kind of AI analysis. They don't say how this determination was made.
So the listing remains, and people will be ripped off.
I appealed that, this time I attached images of a real note and I marked on the seller's listing the features that proved it was counterfeit. ..This is the response I got:
-Great policing & commendable follow up! 👍 I'm sorry it had mixed results & ended up being quite frustrating.
So the listing remains, and people will be ripped off.
-This saddens me as its a blight on the hobby. Although such notes are not “my thing” I always find knowledge that there's deviants out there who knowingly rip off unsuspecting victims, depressing knowing full well how its a big step back for the avg hobbyist.
Any reproductions (even sold/labelled as “Copy” or “repoduktion”) are a problem in my books. Once this happens to the extent it has been going on with the 100 Trillion note it generally turns off collectors. It produces negative feelings towards that item. It makes me wonder how many fakes are owned by unsuspecting victims too. How many fakes have been recorded on Numista as legit 100T notes?
It's business as usual as long as they are getting paid. Most sellers have low feedback too. Most likely new IDs established just for such listings.
-This saddens me as its a blight on the hobby@ahkai I've always found eBay “the wild, wild west,” but that doesn't mean it should be so poorly mismanaged. It's hard to believe that they're allowing AI to screen valid complaints/ or help flag unscrupulous sellers.
I have found over the years that the only way to effectively make a complaint to ebay regarding fake items is to ring customer service. If you call during work hours GMT, especially in the morning, you are very likely to get to speak with someone in the Dublin call centre.
Thanks @odd job..I remembered in one of the posts here, you mentioned the tree next to the rock, and I was wondering which tree you were referring to. With this, I can see it clearly. I do not have the fake note, and it would be hard to compare.
