The £26.5 million stolen from the Northern Bank in Belfast will become very hard to spend from next week when the bank issues new notes, it was confirmed today.
From Monday anyone wanting to exchange more than £500 of the old Northern Bank notes at a bank will need to provide proof of identity. More than £1,000 and the money will have to be paid into an account.
The Northern is taking more than £240 million in old notes out of circulation and expects to have at least 80 per cent swapped for the new design notes within four weeks.
Rosamond Bennett, head of marketing and communications at the bank, said: "This is the first time this has been done in banking history anywhere in the world. "But we feel it is the right thing to do, we understand there has been some uncertainty and confusion about notes - people want to know the notes they hold are not stolen. Issuing new notes will ensure the stolen notes are not used."
It has taken just eight weeks to redesign and print the new notes , normally it would take months.
Instead of a complete redesign, four key changes have been made to each of the £10, £20, £50 and £100 notes.
The bank said it had been working closely with the PSNI in the run-up to the launch of the note exchange programme, and the police would be issuing detailed crime prevention advice to the public before the end of the week.
"The most important point for people to remember is that money can only be exchanged at banks over the coming weeks - you should not give money to a stranger, however convincing he or she may appear, who calls at your door and offers to collect notes for exchange," said Ms Bennett.
PA