A MAN busted for photocopying $50 notes on to A4 paper and passing them off as currency has been given a suspended sentence.

Kyle John Fry, 23, of Nerang on the Gold Coast, used a home printer-copier to make 84 counterfeit notes and recruited a teenage girl who shared his house to pass them off in local cafes, markets and shopping centres, The Gold Coast Bulletin reports.

Southport Magistrates Court was told she would buy a small item and receive change, which Fry would spend on his drug addiction.

Lawyer Bill Potts said his client's amateur scheme allowed him to go "from unemployment to wealth without the inconvenience of work".

Fry was busted in June when police raided his home, finding $350 in fake notes. A week later they found $600 worth of fake notes in his car.

Fry pleaded guilty to multiple charges of making and possessing counterfeit notes and uttering.

He was given four-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay $350 of real money in restitution.

Read the full story at The Gold Coast Bulletin