The secured printing solution

Safe was created in 1994, in France by Christian Bonnard and Jean-Pierre Braunstein
whose aim was to advise companies and help them to introduce reliable systems to organize
their means of payment, whatever the size of the company or its field of business.

Without equivalent in the world, this technique is intended to make safe the edition of all
sciptural documents. Within a few years, Safe became the leader in the French market place
for secured printing.

Under the heating effect, the melted ink penetrates all the layers of the
paper by capillarity.

Check forgery is a serious society issue which now confronts all major industrialized
nations. Each year, $10 billion are illegaly diverted in the United States, including 27.000
cheques worth more than 100.000 dollars which see their recipient and amount modified by
the defrauders.
After demonstrating its reliability on cheques, SAFE has quickly adapted this instrument to
the securisation of other documents : unfortunately, alteration goes beyond the simple cheque
forgery.

PARTNERS :
 Safe System

Forgery, a permanent threat

You issue daily cheques, command of transfer, LC...fraud remains a major risk. Modification
of the name of the recipient, cashing by a homonym, falsification of the amount...
In any case, your responsability is involved.
For your firm, this has heavy consequences not only on the financial level but as well in terms
of image and reliability.

An efficient protection

The SAFE system secures automatiquely every printed document :

• Bill payments
• Cautions
• Contracts
• Customs documents
• Doctor prescriptions
• Graduation certificates
• Insurance policies
• Invoices
• Qualification certificates
• Shares certificates
• Vouchers…

System performances

• Innovative
• Self protection
• Low printing cost
• High speed
• Simple use
• High printing quality capacity
• All network integration
• Suppresses check fraud

Major companies have sign up for the SAFE technology ( See references ).
All forgery attempts have since then been neutralized.
 Safe Technology

1. A Tektronix color printer with solid ink technology prints the document on a reactive
paper, providing a unique impression in relief.

2. An infra-red furnace (patented by SAFE), located at the end of the printer heats the parts
of the document which needs to be secured.

3. Under the heating effect, the melted ink penetrates by capillarity the paper in all its layers.
The document has then been printed recto/verso, all forgery attemps are useless.

Safe Answer to Forgery

Solid ink
In case of data diddling (figures, date, recipient) :

• By mechanical erasure : ink having impregnated in-depth the paper, it can neither be
gummed, nor scraped without causing a hole in the paper

• By thermal shock : ink cannot " fall apart " since it has penetrated in the fibers of the
paper

• By chemical erasure : according to cases, the inscriptions fade out but does not disappear;
the reactive paper used for the impression changes effectively color.

The extensive tests led by the National Laboratory of Tests, in Paris (File
5031134-Document DMI/1 - April 11, 1995), proved point by point the
effectiveness of the answers brought by the Safe printing system to
falsification, even under extreme conditions of experimentation. Any
attempt of erasure is made eye-visible.
The advent of the electronic trade and other means of payments did not bend the curve
of progression of the use of the cheque, nor even the use of written documents. The
growth of emitted cheques is 3 to 4% each year since the Eighties.

Facts and figures

• United States

- According to the Office of the Controller of Currency, cheque fraud reached $10 billion in
1996. Each day, more than 1,2 million fraudulent cheques penetrate the American banking
structure in 1998.

- In 1981, the FBI declared 1.825 cases of falsified cheques worth more than 100.000
dollars. In 1991, the number passed to 26.931 (an increase of 1.300%).

- American Bankers Association estimates that the losses due to the fraud will increase of
25% per year. The development of mail order business will amplify the phenomenon to a
significant degree.

• United Kingdom

- The Britsh Bankers' Association reports that the potential loss from cheque fraud in 1996
was £55.31 million with most attempted frauds directed towards corporate or other non-
personal accounts.

- Mark Seldowitz of Fontworld whose company has compiled a report on cheque forgery
says: "The prime targets of cheque forgery are airlines, banking and financial institutions,
legal profession and government agencies."

- Lloyds Bank's cheque management service declares that the problem will continue to
escalate, since technology has made alteration and counterfeiting easy.

• France

- French authorities registered that 150.000 cheques are falsified each year.

- Association Française de Banques estimates the total cost between 500 million to 1 billion
French francs.
 REFERENCES

And
Association Française des Sociétés d'Assurances – Andra – Aussédat Rey – Cil Avenir –
Caisse d'Epargne PAC – Cofranlait – Crédit Agricole – Efidis – Biscuits LU – NFMDA –
Panalpina – Pomona – SHAM – SICF – SOCAPI – Société Générale – Synthelabo – TAT
European Airlines – TAT Express – TAT Air Liberté…

Contacts Safe France

101/103, Avenue du Gal Leclerc

F-75014 Paris
France
Ph. : 33 1 45 40 54 64
Fax : 33 1 45 40 86 58

Hervé Braunstein
Sales Manager.
www.safe.fr
Ph. : 33 6 82 00 39 83
E-Mail : h.braunstein@safe.fr
Safe and Tektronix are registed trademarks.