A Lancashire company, Panoptic, reveals how counterfeiters fool the banknote
analysers used in devices such as railway ticket machines. These machines shine
ultraviolet light onto banknotes and look for fluorescence. Genuine notes do not
fluoresce. But crooks can dazzle the optics by shining a bright light through
the note slot. To counter this, Panoptic combines a miniature ultraviolet source
and detector in a sealed tube, which presses down on the note to exclude
extraneous light (GB 2 334 574).
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Technology
Why full-fledged quantum computers might always be five years away
Comment
Technology
Quantum computers are starting to become useful as scientific tools
News
Technology
OpenAI’s hacking agent went rogue. Should we be worried?
News
Technology
China is trying to regulate relationships with AI 鈥� can it work?
News
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles