In the period from 22 June to 9 July 2003 the Croatian National Bank and the Ministry of the Interior discovered a total of 132 forged 1000 kuna banknotes, of which 92 forgeries were found during the processing of deposits in the Financial Agency and banks, while 40 forged notes were seized by the Police during the past investigation procedure.

The forged notes have appeared in Beli Manastir, Bjelovar, Crikvenica, Đakovo, Našice, Nova Gradiška, Novska, Okučani, Opatija, Osijek, Rijeka, Rovinj, Sesvete, Slavonski Brod, Slunj, Velika Gorica and Zagreb.

As a rule, they have been put into circulation mainly through small-value payments made in small shops, gasoline stations, kiosks and coffee bars.

We would like to remind the public that the forgeries could be rather easily recognized as they are printed on a markedly yellowish and shiny paper, and are also characterized by the following:

• the portrait is bordered by a narrow smudged line, i.e. the portrait is separated from the drawing on the surface by a narrow unprinted line;
• the imitation security thread is not incorporated into the paper and is therefore not visible as a continuous thread when looked at towards the light;
• the watermark is imitated by subsequent printing at the bottom of the forgery's reverse, and, when looked at towards the light, a portrait with thick dark-yellowish outlines can be observed, which is visually different from the grayish outlines of the portrait in the watermark of the genuine banknote;
• the color of the portrait is light gray, while the portrait on the genuine note is of darker hues;
• the drawings and the color of the surface are blurred and smudged, while the text printed in microtext is blurred and unreadable.

In addition, all forgeries bear the issue date October 31 1993.

The Croatian National has Bank repeatedly reminded all financial institutions of their obligation to withdraw from circulation the doubtful notes or those which had been identified as forgeries, to submit them immediately to the CNB for the purpose of authentication and to notify the Police promptly thereof.

Moreover, the CNB and MOI urge all legal and natural persons to be vigilant when accepting the 1000 kuna banknotes and to report any doubtful notes to the Police immediately.
As a result of the past investigation in connection with putting into circulation of the forged 1000 kuna banknotes the Police have brought criminal charges against a total of 12 persons on a founded suspicion of having committed a crime pursuant to article 274 of the Penal Law.

The investigation continues and is aimed at identifying the source of these forgeries and other accomplices in their distribution.

The Croatian National Bank has prepared instruction materials about the protective features of the kuna banknotes and is willing to submit them to all interested legal persons for the purpose of an additional training of their staff and preventing the dissemination of forged banknotes at the very beginning.