Aiming to thwart the counterfeiters who have left many shoppers frustrated with their inability to spend a 20 dollar bill, the Bank of Canada has unveiled a new design for the note.

The bank plans to put the bill into circulation by the end of September, meaning it could find its way into wallets by the middle of October.

Expect it to be instantly recognizable as a twenty, the bank says, as it retains a green hue similar to the current bill.

But they also hope everyone will recognize the new note's security features just as quickly.

Among its built in anti-counterfeiting measures, the new twenty features a see-through number, a metallic holographic stripe, a watermarked portrait and a special colour-shifting thread woven right into the paper.

According to the Bank of Canada's senior deputy governor, all the features have been designed to be easy to check, but hard to copy.

"We want retailers and the public to know how quick and easy it is to tell the difference between a real bank note and a fake one," Paul Jenkins said at the national unveiling ceremony in Vancouver Wednesday morning.

"We want people to make a habit of checking their notes, just as they check their change, sales slips, or credit card receipts."

Doing so is as easy as feeling the paper, tilting the hologram and peering through it, he said.

By making verification so simple, the bank hopes to curb the counterfeiting experts say is leading a national rise in hi-tech crime.

In its latest report on national crime rates, Statistics Canada noted that a decline in violent crime wasn't enough to stop the overall crime rate from jumping six per cent in 2003.

Approximately 138,000 counterfeiting cases were reported that year, the agency reported. That was up 72 per cent from the year before.

Fear of counterfeit currency has led a growing number of retailers to refuse the old $20 bills, making them somewhat impractical for shoppers.

Before the new bill goes into circulation, the Bank of Canada is running a campaign to inform retailers and consumers how to recognize and interpret the new note's advanced features.

Later this year, the bank plans to introduce a new $50 note, followed by an updated $10 in 2005.