ABSTRACT

Objective:

The symbol of Turkish Lira “ ” which has been used since 1st of March 2012 resembles to the symbol of the official currency of euro zone “€”. Moreover, easy conversion of spelling “Lira” to “Euro” and their symbols in the texts are a important problem for the experts of Forensic Document Examination.

Materials and Methods:

Department of Forensic Document Examination of The Council of Forensic Medicine is one of the most experienced institution in Turkey in forensic document examination with processing more than 10.000 files per year. Although Document Examination Branch has not faced such a forgery which mentioned above yet, it is likely that such a fraud will be realized. Aim of this study is to draw the attention of forensic scientists on this potential forgery by presenting the virtual cases.

Results and conclusion:

In virtual cases, “Lira” word and “ ” symbol were transformed to “Euro” word and “€” symbol easily. Initial states of virtual bills before alteration were revealed under infrared light source using VSC 6000 HS. Consequently, easy convertibility of “Lira” to “Euro” words and their symbols can increase probablity of alteration on bill, check etc. documents through only change of currency without change of amount area in documents.