BOGUS BANK NOTES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22481, 27 July 1936, Page 12

BOGUS BANK NOTES

FOEGEEIES IN SYDNEY NEW ZEALAND CURRENCY POLICE WARNING TO PUBLIC [from our own correspondent] SYDNEY, July 22 Following tho discovery of forged New Zealand bank notes, the police havo issued a warning to tho public that a clever gang of forgers is operating in Sydney, and they suggest that people should watch for any New Zealand £lO notes, on the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, as these are spurious. Tho police point out that tho Reserve Bank does not issue notes in tho denomination of £lO. Threo forged notes for £lO, said to bo the cleverest forgeries ever circulated in Sydney, have come into the hands of the Criminal Investigation Branch in the past week and in each caso these notes are alterations of genuine bank notes, issued by the Kcservo Bank of New Zealand in smaller denominations. The police claim that tho alterations have been so skilfully made that unless small faults and lack of symmetry in the lettering are pointed out their spurious character could not be detected. Genuine Notes Altered Two of the forgeries have been made on genuine 10s notes, which are red in colouring, and the third was made ou a £1 note, which is coloured violet. On the 10s notes the stroke and bar after the figure have been erased, tho word "shillings" has been changed to pounds ' and tho note has been recoloured near tho alterations to prc\ont detection. In all 20 alterations have been made on the note. On the £1 notes tho word "one" lias been altered to "ton," and an "a ' placed after tho word "pound." The figure "1," which in the original £1 notes is short and broad, has been altered by indelible pencil to form a narrow "1" and the left side of tho cipher, the right side being added to form the figure "10." On the reverse side of the note "£1" lias been changed to "£10." In this work the forger had to make 18 alterations. Possible £SO Forgeries The police add that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand issues notes to tho denomination of 10s, £l, £5 and £SO. They consider that <'i large number of New Zealand 10s and £5 notes have been brought to Sydney and they are asking the public to beware of any Now Zealand notes represented to be £lO. They also consider that forged £SO notes may bo uttered. They accordingly are asking the public to report to the nearest police station any cases where such notes have been uttered or tendered. Three city jewellers were victimised by the notes and forgeries were npt detected until the notes had passed through a bank and been sent to the Sydney branch of tho Bank of New Zealand for payment.

A considerable amount of work would have to be done by a forger to alter the Reserve Bank pound and tenshilling notes, to make them of apparent higher denominations. On tho pound note the figure "1" is engraved with ornamentation no fewer than 10 times, four on the face of the note and six on the back. In addition, tho words "one pound" appear on both sides, the lettering in each case being ornamented. The ten-shilling note has the symbol "10/-" four times on the front and twice on tho back. The words " tenshillings" appear once on the. front and five times on tho hack, tho lettering again being ornamented.