WILLEMSTAD, PHILIPSBURG - The Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten (CBCS), in line with our objective to promote the financial resilience of our community, and in view of the holiday spending, organized several educational sessions on how to detect counterfeit money during the past weeks. This was done in collaboration with the Korps Politie Curaçao and the U.S. Consulate. Different parties from different sectors, who were either invited or responded to the announcements in local newspapers and on social media, attended these sessions. During the next month, the CBCS will organize similar sessions in Sint Maarten. More information on this will follow soon.

Meanwhile, the CBCS also created a short educational film, which provides detailed explanation of the security features of our banknotes. This film also emphasizes the fact that you cannot identify swindlers by their looks, but counterfeit money you can - by knowing exactly which security features to look for.

The film - produced in both Papiamentu and English - is aired on local television during the news bulletin. It can also be viewed on the CBCS’s official Facebook page Centrale Bank van Curacao en Sint Maarten.

The CBCS is pleased that through these initiatives we can contribute to raising the consumers’ awareness of the security features of our banknotes and, consequently, effectively combat the circulation of counterfeit money.

Lastly, the CBCS wants to alert the public to pay attention when accepting banknotes. In case of doubt as to the authenticity of a banknote, we strongly advise you not to accept that banknote. We would like to remind you once again that it is illegal for any person and or institution to accept counterfeit banknotes. You are advised to immediately contact the local police if you think you’re dealing with a counterfeit banknote. The counterfeiting of banknotes and the fraudulent use of counterfeit means of payment are punishable by imprisonment of up to 9 years.