Is that €50 fake or not

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Graham_07

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Just saw this in a newspaper today & thought it was interesting. You can tell the genuineness of any €uro note by doing a calculation based on the serial number.

Replace the initial letter on the serial number with the number corresponding to its place in the alphabet ( so A is 1 and Z is 26 ) . Then add this number to each other digit in the serial number in turn. The resulting figure will be a two digit one. Add the individual digits of that figure together. The result should always be 8.

E.G. serial number S15202145752.
S = 19.
add 19+1+5+2+0+2+1+4+5+7+5+2 = 53
add 5+3 = 8 .

Maybe not something you can do at the counter with a queue forming but interesting.
 
Re: Is that €50 fake or not

Super - useful post, thanks.

I've done a little FileMaker Pro database (could just as easily use Excel or Numbers) to test my huge stash of 50's under the floorboards. I'll let ye know how I get on. :)
 
Graham_07 said:
Just saw this in a newspaper today & thought it was interesting. You can tell the genuineness of any €uro note by doing a calculation based on the serial number.

Replace the initial letter on the serial number with the number corresponding to its place in the alphabet ( so A is 1 and Z is 26 ) . Then add this number to each other digit in the serial number in turn. The resulting figure will be a two digit one. Add the individual digits of that figure together. The result should always be 8.

E.G. serial number S15202145752.
S = 19.
add 19+1+5+2+0+2+1+4+5+7+5+2 = 53
add 5+3 = 8 .

Maybe not something you can do at the counter with a queue forming but interesting.
Click to expand...

In your example should it be:

E.G. serial number S15202145752.
S = 19.
add 1+9+1+5+2+0+2+1+4+5+7+5+2 = 44
add 4+4 = 8

or as you indicated?
 
as it was shown in the newspaper the position S is 19 which was then used as 19+the other digits, not 1+9 ( although that does also give 8 as an answer ) . That example as was given was using a genuine €500 note. Unfortunately I'm all out of those at present ;)
 
Graham_07 said:
as it was shown in the newspaper the position S is 19 which was then used as 19+the other digits, not 1+9 ( although that does also give 8 as an answer ) . That example as was given was using a genuine €500 note. Unfortunately I'm all out of those at present ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks, didn't have the Daily Mail or a €50 note to hand to confirm myself.
 
So now the forger knows to copy the number of a genuine note and not to serialise them?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
DB74 said:
... 2+0+0+6 = 8 ...
Click to expand...
Great, the new €6 notes are in circulation for tomorrow. :)

Having tested a few notes, the sums work using the number equivalent to the letter's position in the alphabet e.g. 19 in the example above.
 
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