COUNTERFEIT £5 NOTES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24221, 13 February 1940, Page 16

COUNTERFEIT £5 NOTES

MELBOURNE AND SYDNEY COUP MORE THAN £ISOO PASSED (From Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, Jan. 31. Plans for a gigantic swindle in two States were checked on Saturday, when Sydney police moved swiftly to prevent hundreds of counterfeit £5 notes being put into circulation. In Melbourne and in Sydney the chimes of 1 o’clock acted as a signal for agents to pass forged £5 notes. Many people found themselves victims. In Melbourne the counterfeiters had much success, particularly at the Moonee Valley races. In Sydney the warnings of police to bookmakers and business people prevented a certain clean-up, but more than £ISOO of the notes were nassed. At the Sydney Detective Office inform?tion was received on Friday night that forged £5 notes would be passed at the Randwick races and in the metropolitan area. “ Wo did not know whether to treat the information as seriously as it sounded,” said a high police officer. “ But it is far better to be sure than sorry, so every available ‘policemen was detailed to keep his eyes and ears open.” A squad of 20 detectives and 1500 police, led by the head of the C. 1.8. (Superintendent Matthews) spread a net over all city and suburban hotels and the Randwick racecourse. This swift counter not only checked the coup, but resulted, in several instances, in police being in hotels when men tried to cash the forgeries. More than 100 of the counterfeit notes came into possession of the police. The notes are a good imitation. Each note has been ruffled, to give it a worn appearance to hide the defects, which are easily discernible when the forgeries are compared with a real £5 note. The counterfeits are printed on paper almost identical to that of the genuine notes. The main

fault in them is that the printing is in a bright blue, whereas that on genuine notes is dull. The watermark head in the white oval on the forged note is not in the centre, but close to the left-hand side. The King’s head on many of the counterfeits is blurred. Placed alongside a true note, the difference is obvious; but, if the notes were handled for any length of time, the difference would be hard to detect without close examination. Experts at the C. 1.8. say that production of the forgeries must have taken the full skill of a trained process engraving operator and etcher. So far the detectives have not been able to locate the plant or the persons responsible for the printing of the notes. They believe that a genuine £5 note was photographed, and that several thousands of bogus notes were printed off the zinc blocks made from the photograph on paper resembling that of genuine notes. Thirteen persons, including a woman, were arrested in Sydney on charges of passing or attempting to pass the forgeries. Detectives believe that there are still thousands of the notes ready for circulation throughout Australia.