Date: 25 February 2013
Visitors Warned On High-Quality Fake Currency In Sydney
MELBOURNE, Feb 25 (Bernama) - Malaysians visiting Australia
should be careful as Sydney has been flooded with counterfeit cash that is of such
high quality some banks are struggling to detect it.
In the past two months, organised crime gangs have caused a
"significant spike" in the amount of fake currency - mainly A$50 and
A$100 notes - passed in restaurants, bars and fast food outlets, particularly
in Sydney's west.
Just two weeks ago they charged a Comanchero bikie with
being in possession of A$520,000 in "funny money", the Australian
Associated Press reports.
Businesses in the Sydney suburbs of Fairfield, Mt Druitt and
Penrith have all detected fake notes, mainly A$100 bills. It is also
unknowingly being passed around by banks.
Police warned the high quality of the bank notes meant they
were difficult to detect. "They have been coated in a plastic resin to
make them have a feel similar to a real note. They are pretty good. In the
past, A$50 notes were the most popular but we are seeing an increasing number
of A$100," a police spokesman is quoted as saying
All discoveries of forged money are handed to the Reserve
Bank and Australian Federal Police to investigate.
Despite government assurances that counterfeiting is a minor
problem in Australia, local and international crime syndicates are known to
have been involved in its production on a mass scale.
By Neville D'Cruz
Copyrights @ BERNAMA
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