The invention group relates to the banknote detecting means. The technical result is increase in the banknote identification accuracy. The method is based on a computational processing of the banknote scan formed in the device during scanning. The banknote digital image is separated into areas; for each area a function is calculated and a feature vector is composed with further calculation of the distance to the known classes represented by the parameters available beforehand. Moreover, the calculated function of the banknote digital image allows calculation of its signature in a form of binary number that is compared with the classes known beforehand.