"Be Careful: Wiping Banknotes with Hand Sanitizer May Cause ATM Deposit Rejection"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] Due to concerns about COVID-19 infection, some citizens have been wiping banknotes with hand sanitizer, causing the length of the banknotes to increase and resulting in cases where deposits at automated teller machines (ATMs) are rejected.

The Bank of Korea announced that the Counterfeit Prevention Working Committee held its regular meeting for the first half of this year at 10:30 a.m. on the 27th at the Bank of Korea Gangnam Headquarters, stating that there have been cases where banknotes wiped with hand sanitizer are mistaken for counterfeit bills, so caution is necessary.

The Bank of Korea explained, "The glycerin component of hand sanitizer has moisture-retaining properties, so wiping banknotes with hand sanitizer slightly increases their horizontal length, which may cause ATM deposits to be rejected." According to research from Brigham Young University in the United States, after injecting the COVID-19 virus onto banknotes and investigating the degree of virus detection over time, the virus decreased by 99.9993% after 30 minutes and was undetectable after 24 hours. Additionally, banknotes collected from actual use in stores showed no detection of the COVID-19 virus.

The committee stated, "Going forward, based on close cooperation among related organizations, we plan to actively share information to proactively block the circulation of counterfeit bills, and to carry out various promotional activities to improve the public's ability to identify counterfeit currency, thereby ensuring the establishment of a sound currency circulation order."

Meanwhile, the committee is composed of counterfeit currency officers from six organizations: the Bank of Korea, the National Intelligence Service, the National Police Agency, the Korea Customs Service, the National Forensic Service, and the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation. At this meeting, they reviewed recent counterfeit currency discovery status, cases of counterfeit currency criminal arrests, counterfeit currency appraisal status, and discussed measures to prevent the circulation of counterfeit bills.