Shops warned about forged $20 notes

Press, 14 September 1987, Page 8

Shops warned about forged $20 notes

PA Napier The police have warned Napier businesses to be on the look-out for counterfeit $2O notes.

Senior-Sergeant Paul Lacey said the first of what could be a series of forged notes was passed in Napier on Friday, but an alert shop assistant spotted the fake. He said a woman working in a book-shop was approached by a customer about 4.45 p.m. who handed her a $2O note to pay for a magazine. The woman looked at the note and said “this is not real,” and the man ran from the shop. Mr Lacey said the woman chased the man, at one stage catching up with him only to be pushed away.

The woman then returned to the shop and called the police. Mr Lacey, after inspecting the note said it was lacking in detail, as if it had been through a washing machine, and did not have a watermark.

However, the police considered it was good enough to be passed if the person receiving the note was not alert. “It could slip through,” he said. The colours were identical to a real $2O note, and the fake appeared to be the result of a form of photocopy process. Mr Lacey said the note carried the serial number TDD 473947 and if others were about to be circulated they could carry the same number.