Forensic classification of counterfeit banknote paper by X-ray fluorescence and multivariate statistical methods

Hongling Guo; Baohua Yin; Jie Zhang; Yangke Quan; Gaojun Shi

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.06.008

Forensic classification of counterfeit banknote paper by X-ray fluorescence and multivariate statistical methods

Forensic Sci Int. 2016 Sep:266:e43-e47. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.06.008. Epub 2016 Jun 15.

Authors

Hongling Guo¹, Baohua Yin², Jie Zhang³, Yangke Quan², Gaojun Shi²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Public Security, Muxidi South 17#, Xicheng District, Beijing, China. Electronic address: guohongling1234@163.com.
² Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Public Security, Muxidi South 17#, Xicheng District, Beijing, China.
³ Beijing Children's Legal Aid and Research Center, China.

PMID: 27342345
DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.06.008

Abstract

Counterfeiting of banknotes is a crime and seriously harmful to economy. Examination of the paper, ink and toners used to make counterfeit banknotes can provide useful information to classify and link different cases in which the suspects use the same raw materials. In this paper, 21 paper samples of counterfeit banknotes seized from 13 cases were analyzed by wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence. After measuring the elemental composition in paper semi-quantitatively, the normalized weight percentage data of 10 elements were processed by multivariate statistical methods of cluster analysis and principle component analysis. All these paper samples were mainly classified into 3 groups. Nine separate cases were successfully linked. It is demonstrated that elemental composition measured by XRF is a useful way to compare and classify papers used in different cases.

Keywords: Counterfeit banknote paper; Linking; Multivariate analysis; XRF.