A man was left mind-blown after trying to photocopy real money to see what would happen.
Arun Maini, aka Mr Whose The Boss, is an economics graduate who built up an impressive following online thanks his tech reviews and tips.
The 27-year-old recently went viral after attempting to scan a British Pound Note as well as a US dollar. But when he went to scan the legal tender, his printer popped up with a warning.
“It literally just says ‘the original cannot be copied’,” Arun said, proving the machine does work by photocopying a £10 bill from the board game Monopoly.
It turns out, there is a smart reason behind why the scanner refused to print the note – which features on most notes around the world.
“Hidden on this pound note is actually a very specific pattern known as the EURion constellation because of the similarity to the Orion star constellation,” the influencer said.
“You wouldn’t particularly notice it at first glance with everything that is going on with the design, but it’s this pattern that every single scanner is designed to recognise to specifically stop you from copying money.”
The EURion constellation can also be found on Euro notes as well as the dollar, where it is ‘masked even further’ by using the value of the note to create the pattern.
“The Japanese Yen is absolutely crazy,” Arun added. “Those guys actually hide the pattern within flowers on the note.”
The Bank Of England makes it clear that reproducing banknotes without its consent, or making ‘conterfeit’ banknotes with the intention of ‘passing or tendering’ it as geniune is an offence.
“We do not allow inappropriate or novelty reproductions because they could affect the integrity or public image of our banknotes, cause offence, or infringe copyright,” the body added.
Hundreds of gobsmacked viewers flocked to the comments to share their thoughts, with many admitting they knew nothing about the hidden feature.
“The amount of security that notes have is honestly insane,” one person wrote. Another agreed, commenting: “Fascinating. I love learning these random facts! I never realised there was such a feature.”
A third joked: “The confidence these printers have to assume their prints are accurate enough to pass as real money.”
