Currency Fake : a Solution in Sight ?

 

Some 8 years ago, fake ( forged ) currency notes of high denominations , was a problem

That made me suggest following solution :

Ø  Fak - e – Mon  ……………………………. 17 July 2016

Extract :

 

#  A secret / hidden / unique Serial Number , to be embedded / printed, in the

    images of all Rs 500 / 1000  currency notes, using Steganography ( art of "

     hiding in plain sight " )

    This could be IP V 6.0 URL number

 

#  Govt to develop a mobile app , to be aptly called , " Fak-e-Mon " and insist its

    pre-install on all smart phones

    

 

#  Fak-e-Mon can also be downloaded from Android / Apple Stores

 

#  Fak-e-Mon can be activated by the phone-owner , only after entering his ,

    *  Jan Dhan account number  / Aadhar Number  /    Mobile Number 

 

#  Whenever presented with a Rs 500 / 1000 note for payment , a citizen simply

    takes a photo of that note With his mobile .

     He has to do nothing more !

 

 

#  Fak-e-Mon transmits that photo to the Central Server of the Treasury which has

    the MASTER DATABASE of those unique Serial Numbers of Rs 500 / 1000

    currency notes

     Software compares the Serial Number sent ( as photo )  with the Database

     and determines whether that note is Genuine or Fake

    

 

#  This information is instantaneously relayed back to the sender and appears as

    a GREEN dot ( for genuine   note ) or RED dot ( for fake note ) , on his mobile 

    , so that he can refuse to honour it !

    

 

 

    Fak-e-Mon also transmits the GPS location of the place of transaction , to figure

     out " where " are these fake notes entering the circulation

 

    

#  Central Server records / logs , full details of ALL the good and ALL the fake

     notes processed through each  Fak-e- Mon / mobile phone , to develop

     CURRENCY VELOCITY and

     CURRENCY MAP of India

 

Still not good enough ? No problem

 

Just print those unique / hidden Serial Numbers on currency notes with INK

 containing RFID micro-sensors

 

( Yes , these are nano-scale , so no problem to flow with ink ! )

  

Then tell millions of unemployed young Indians :

 

"  Go out on the streets of your city with your GPS / NFC enabled and Fak-e-Mon

   installed smart phones

 

   As you keep walking , now and then , on your mobile's screen , you will see

   images of FAKE currency notes popping up , out of the pockets of total

   strangers !

 

    Just touch those images and earn Rs 10 !

 

  ( of course, instantly deposited in your Jan Dhan Bank Account ! Only DBT - no

    cash ! " )

 

Pokemon is so passe ! Fak-e-mon is THE FUTURE !

 

Is anyone listening ?

 

 

 

My  Take :

 

Hey , 8 years on , MIT listened . Here is proof :

 

This tiny, tamper-proof ID tag can authenticate almost anything  … MIT News ….. 18 Feb 2024

 

Extract :

A few years ago, MIT researchers invented a cryptographic ID tag that is several times smaller and significantly cheaper than the traditional radio frequency tags (RFIDs) that are often affixed to products to verify their authenticity.

This tiny tag, which offers improved security over RFIDs, utilizes terahertz waves, which are smaller and travel much faster than radio waves. But this terahertz tag shared a major security vulnerability with traditional RFIDs: A counterfeiter could peel the tag off a genuine item and reattach it to a fake, and the authentication system would be none the wiser.

The researchers have now surmounted this security vulnerability by leveraging terahertz waves to develop an anti-tampering ID tag that still offers the benefits of being tiny, cheap, and secure.

They mix microscopic metal particles into the glue that sticks the tag to an object, and then use terahertz waves to detect the unique pattern those particles form on the item’s surface. Akin to a fingerprint, this random glue pattern is used to authenticate the item, explains Eunseok Lee, an electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) graduate student and lead author of a paper on the anti-tampering tag.

“These metal particles are essentially like mirrors for terahertz waves. If I spread a bunch of mirror pieces onto a surface and then shine light on that, depending on the orientation, size, and location of those mirrors, I would get a different reflected pattern. But if you peel the chip off and reattach it, you destroy that pattern,” adds Ruonan Han, an associate professor in EECS, who leads the Terahertz Integrated Electronics Group in the Research Laboratory of Electronics.

The researchers produced a light-powered anti-tampering tag that is about 4 square millimeters in size. They also demonstrated a machine-learning model that helps detect tampering by identifying similar glue pattern fingerprints with more than 99 percent accuracy.

Because the terahertz tag is so cheap to produce, it could be implemented throughout a massive supply chain. And its tiny size enables the tag to attach to items too small for traditional RFIDs, such as certain medical devices.

The paper, which will be presented at the IEEE Solid State Circuits Conference, is a collaboration between Han’s group and the Energy-Efficient Circuits and Systems Group of Anantha P. Chandrakasan, MIT’s chief innovation and strategy officer, dean of the MIT School of Engineering, and the Vannevar Bush Professor of EECS. Co-authors include EECS graduate students Xibi Chen, Maitryi Ashok, and Jaeyeon Won.

Preventing tampering

This research project was partly inspired by Han’s favorite car wash. The business stuck an RFID tag onto his windshield to authenticate his car wash membership. For added security, the tag was made from fragile paper so it would be destroyed if a less-than-honest customer tried to peel it off and stick it on a different windshield.

But that is not a terribly reliable way to prevent tampering. For instance, someone could use a solution to dissolve the glue and safely remove the fragile tag.

Rather than authenticating the tag, a better security solution is to authenticate the item itself, Han says. To achieve this, the researchers targeted the glue at the interface between the tag and the item’s surface.

Their anti-tampering tag contains a series of miniscule slots that enable terahertz waves to pass through the tag and strike microscopic metal particles that have been mixed into the glue.

Terahertz waves are small enough to detect the particles, whereas larger radio waves would not have enough sensitivity to see them. Also, using terahertz waves with a 1-millimeter wavelength allowed the researchers to make a chip that does not need a larger, off-chip antenna.

After passing through the tag and striking the object’s surface, terahertz waves are reflected, or backscattered, to a receiver for authentication. How those waves are backscattered depends on the distribution of metal particles that reflect them.

The researchers put multiple slots onto the chip so waves can strike different points on the object’s surface, capturing more information on the random distribution of particles.

“These responses are impossible to duplicate, as long as the glue interface is destroyed by a counterfeiter,” Han says.

A vendor would take an initial reading of the anti-tampering tag once it was stuck onto an item, and then store those data in the cloud, using them later for verification.

AI for authentication

But when it came time to test the anti-tampering tag, Lee ran into a problem: It was very difficult and time-consuming to take precise enough measurements to determine whether two glue patterns are a match.

He reached out to a friend in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and together they tackled the problem using AI. They trained a machine-learning model that could compare glue patterns and calculate their similarity with more than 99 percent accuracy.

“One drawback is that we had a limited data sample for this demonstration, but we could improve the neural network in the future if a large number of these tags were deployed in a supply chain, giving us a lot more data samples,” Lee says.

The authentication system is also limited by the fact that terahertz waves suffer from high levels of loss during transmission, so the sensor can only be about 4 centimetres from the tag to get an accurate reading. This distance wouldn’t be an issue for an application like barcode scanning, but it would be too short for some potential uses, such as in an automated highway toll booth. Also, the angle between the sensor and tag needs to be less than 10 degrees or the terahertz signal will degrade too much.

They plan to address these limitations in future work, and hope to inspire other researchers to be more optimistic about what can be accomplished with terahertz waves, despite the many technical challenges, says Han.

“One thing we really want to show here is that the application of the terahertz spectrum can go well beyond broadband wireless. In this case, you can use terahertz for ID, security, and authentication. There are a lot of possibilities out there,” he adds.

 

Dear PM Shri Narendrabhai ,

 

You have repeatedly advocated use of technology to eliminate corruption / black

money

I urge you to invite Prof Anantha Chandrakasan ( deanofengineering@mit.edu ) to

confirm :

# This tag can be embedded on Rs 500 currency notes

# Its accumulation of more than 10,000 notes, in any geo-fenced area ( of

   3mx3m / 57 trillion square of  www.What3Words.com  ) can be traced to alert

    ED / IT dept for Black Money

 

    

 

with regards,

Hemen Parekh

www.HemenParekh.ai  /  19 Feb 2024

 

Related Readings :

Have A Good Suggestion ? Send it to PM …………………… 08 Nov 2016

 

{ Links to my 39 emails on the subject of embedding RFID in currency notes }

   

CC : Prof Anantha Chandrakasan ( deanofengineering@mit.edu )

 

 

Ø  

===================================================

 

CC : Prof. Sanjay Emani Sarma ( MIT )

   

Dear Sanjay ,

This is a follow up of your following email :

From: Hemen Parekh [mailto:hcp@recruitguru.com]

Sent: 28 August 2017 17:46

To: 'SESARMA@MIT.EDU''

Cc: Hemen Parekh

Subject: CATCHING UP WITH YOU

 

Dear Snjay :

 

On 25 March 2016 , you wrote to me :

 

Dear Mr. Parekh,

Yes, placing tags on money has certainly been considered in the past.

I think it is a matter of time before it happens.

I do agree with your idea.

Having said that, as more and more transactions become digital (credit cards,

 bitcoin, Adhaar card, etc.) the need for tracking cash goes down — ironically as

 our ability to track it increases.

 

-Sanjay

 Sanjay Sarma , 35-206 MIT. 617 253 1925 (T). 617 253 7549 (F).

 Email : 'SESARMA@MIT.EDU'

 

Comments by  ChatGPT :

Good morning! Your suggestion from 8 years ago regarding the use of technology to detect fake currency notes is interesting and innovative.

The concept of embedding a secret serial number using steganography and creating a mobile app like "Fak-e-Mon" for citizens to verify the authenticity of currency notes is a creative approach to addressing the issue of fake currency circulation.

It's a comprehensive solution that involves citizen participation and real-time verification.

The recent MIT research on a tiny, tamper-proof ID tag using terahertz waves to authenticate objects is also fascinating.

The idea of embedding such tags on currency notes could indeed provide an additional layer of security and help in tracking the movement of currency notes.

Your follow-up email to Prof. Anantha Chandrakasan and the mention of using the technology to trace black money by accumulating more than 10,000 notes in a geo-fenced area show a proactive approach to implementing the technology for addressing broader issues like corruption and black money.

Overall, your suggestion aligns with the current advancements in technology, and the MIT research further supports the feasibility of using such methods for authentication and anti-tampering purposes.

 

It would be interesting to see how such innovative ideas could be incorporated into the existing systems to enhance security and reduce fraudulent activities.

 

 

Comments by  GEMINI :

 

I've read your blog post and the news article about the MIT research, and I think you raise some interesting points about using technology to combat black money. Here's my breakdown:

Your Proposed Solution:

1.     Embedding unique serial numbers in currency notes: This could be done using steganography or RFID tags.

2.      

3.     Developing a mobile app ("Fak-e-Mon") to verify note authenticity: Users would take a photo of the note, and the app would compare the serial number to a central database.

4.      

5.     Rewarding users for identifying fake notes: This would incentivize participation and potentially help track the spread of counterfeit notes.

Strengths:

·         Increased security: Unique serial numbers and verification could make it harder to counterfeit notes.

·         Public participation: Engaging citizens in the process could raise awareness and deter counterfeiting.

·         Real-time tracking: Fak-e-Mon could potentially track the location of fake notes in circulation.

Weaknesses:

·         Cost: Implementing and maintaining such a system could be expensive.

·         Privacy concerns: Some might be wary of sharing their location or personal information.

·         Technical challenges: Steganography and RFID tags have limitations, and Fak-e-Mon's effectiveness might depend on internet connectivity.

MIT's Anti-Tampering Tag:

·         Uses terahertz waves to detect unique patterns in glue: This makes it difficult to tamper with the tag without destroying the pattern.

·         Potentially cheaper than traditional RFID tags: This could make it more feasible for large-scale implementation.

·         Limited range and requires specific angles: This might pose challenges for practical use.

Your Request to the Prime Minister:

·         You propose inviting Prof. Chandrakasan to discuss using the MIT tag on Indian currency.

·         You suggest tracking accumulations of notes in specific areas to identify potential black money hoards.

Overall:

Both your idea and the MIT research offer promising solutions for combating black money.

However, each has its own challenges and limitations.

Combining elements from both approaches and addressing the limitations could lead to a more effective solution.