POLICE are urging local business owners and patrons to assess their cash before making transactions and\/or accepting change after a counterfeit $50 note was discovered in the till of a Torquay caf\u00e9 in early January.<\/p>\n
Yummy Tummy Cafe owner Kate Newton said she discovered the fake bill when she was closing the caf\u00e9 at around 3pm.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was counting the till when I came across what I thought was two bills stuck together. We get a lot of tradies come in with oily hands and sometimes you don\u2019t have time to look when you\u2019re handling money under pressure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying to pull them apart when it ripped.\u201d Grubby, thick and marked with Asian lettering, the note\u2019s clear window was unrecognisable, a giveaway to Ms Newton, who has owned the caf\u00e9 for seven years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember something similar happening in Ocean Grove last year and being warned to \u2018watch out\u2019 so I put a photo of the note on the Surf Coast Community Noticeboard Facebook page when I got home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
After taking to social media and receiving a number of replies, Ms Newton handed in the counterfeit bill to the Torquay police station where she was told it would be sent to the Australian Federal Police.<\/p>\n
The average Yummy Tummy customer spends $12 per order, resulting in a $38 loss for Ms Newton.<\/p>\n
Torquay Leading Senior Constable Sean Raffety said the issue was circulating in the area as a result of printing technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way in which technology is heading is making the issue more prevalent.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important for shopkeepers or anyone who receives a fraudulent note to remember where they obtained it and to bring it in to their local police station,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been sent to the AFP for further investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the AFP works in conjunction with the Reserve Bank of Australia to examine such crimes, it is believed counterfeiters are using cheap printing technology to create fake bills that look and feel like polymer banknotes.<\/p>\n
The $50 note\u2019s new design and security update in 2018 hasn\u2019t stopped its fraudulent duplication, with the RBA finding that 60 per cent of counterfeits in Victoria are $50 notes.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re unsure if you\u2019ve received a counterfeit, head to banknotes.rba.gov.au\/ counterfeit-detection\/counterfeit detection guidor visit your local police station.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
POLICE are urging local business owners and patrons to assess their cash before making transactions and\/or accepting change after a counterfeit $50 note was discovered in the till of a Torquay caf\u00e9 in early January. Yummy Tummy Cafe owner Kate Newton said she discovered the fake bill when she was closing the caf\u00e9 at around […]<\/p>\n