Britain’s biggest ever bank robbery took place on 20 December 2004, when a gang of criminals drove up to the head office of Northern Bank, loaded € 40 million worth of banknotes into a white van, and drove off. Theft and financial fraud, including counterfeiting, can cost society billions of euros each year. However, as Marcus Lawson explains, a 2D barcode could make it much easier to identify and track individual banknotes.