Thousands of counterfeit $50 notes have flooded the country, even getting through bank forgery detection systems.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that in the past two years, the amount of fake notes has tripled to 33,000.
But this figure could represent just a small amount of the counterfeit dollars. The technology used to detect them is now more than 20 years old, making it more susceptible to advances in digital imaging and printing technology.
An investigation in 2015 saw one batch of fake $50 notes had been used more than 760 times.
The Royal Bank of Australia believes the dodgy bills detected last year could be from one source, and the production of it can be done through equipment readily available to the public.
The notes are often so high quality they’re fooling forgery detection systems.
According to police, the $50 note is the most widely circulated counterfeit in NSW, but the full scale of the problem is probably under-reported.
The RBA said it is currently conducting an “upgrade” of the security features of Australia’s currency, which will begin with new $5 and $10 notes issued in 2016 and 2017.
An incident last week is being investigated after a TAB employee in Balmain, Sydney discovered $500 of $1000 in $50 notes was counterfeit.
“It was a normal transaction, he counted it out to me and I counted it back, it wasn’t until I was counting it back into the till for the third time that the texture of one note was a bit off,” Cameron told Daily Mail.
“Then I put it through one of the electronic tab machine and it got spat out, I tried to put it through a poker machine and it also got spat out.”
Cam’s photo of the fake money
“Everything was perfect but the slightest texture difference and the only other thing I picked up on was in the window of the note there is usually and indented number 50 but the fake note didn’t have that,” Cam continued.
“The size, colour, print, even the star which is a hologram was the same, basically everything.”
The RBA’s guide to spotting a fake $50 note:
The note should be plastic and difficult to tear. It should also spring back if you try and scrunch it.
If you hold the banknote to the light, you should see the Australian Coat of Arms.
Diamond-shaped patterns are printed inside a circle on both sides of the banknote. If you hold the banknote up to the light, the patterns should line up to form a seven-pointed star.
Check that the white image printed on the window cannot be easily rubbed off. Also look for the wave pattern in the window of the $10 banknote, and the value of the banknote in the windows of $20, $50 and $100 banknotes.
VIDEO: Learn how to spot fake money
