Gwent Police have warned local businesses and the public to be on the lookout for counterfeit £20 notes, which have been circulating in the Caerphilly area recently.
In recent weeks, counterfeit £20 notes have been used in a shop in Castle Court, Caerphilly.
Police have said the notes are of a high quality and officers are urging retailers andshoppers to take a close look at the bank notes they receive.
Anyone with information should contact Gwent Police on 101.
It would be helpful if the difference(s) between a counterfeit and a real note were mentioned. The police say the fake notes are of "high quality" so members of the public will find it hard to tell the real from the false without some pointers to help.
To follow on from my previous comment Police Inspector Gareth Jones supplied me with the following indicators,
1) The note will feel different from a real one, waxy feel.
2)The size may be different from genuine note.
3) Serial numbers are the same on two or more different notes.
4) There will be no watermark on a fake note, though there may be a metallic ribbon threaded through as on the real notes.
Hope this is of help, Inspector Jones advises to call police on 101 if you are suspicious.
3) is not helpful. 4) is not necessarily true, some fake notes have a watermark. Most fake notes are identical in size to real notes. The main things to look for are the metallic strip which is hologrammed and changes from £ to 20 when you turn it. The real 20s have raised bumps in right hand corner and fakes will show up under ultra violet light machine and will show up as brown or yellow with a counterfeit checking marker pen. These can be purchased from most stationers.
iagree with inspector jones regarding the last three pointers about fake notes , but the first about you can feel the difference is wrong , having worked in the printing industry we quite often used a different quaility of paper if we didnt have the grade in stock ,so unless you worked in the industry for long time you wouldnt know