Counterfeit money is making the rounds in the capital region, warn financial-crimes investigators from the Victoria Police Department.

And picking out the bad bills can be as simple as telling past prime ministers apart.

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The fake bills appear to have been made using legal tender as the base, said Det. Const. Scott Buckler.

“It looks like they’ve sacrificed a legal $5 bill.”

Both of the clear-plastic “windows” on the $5 bill — one with a hologram, as on other bills — have been removed and taped into the counterfeit bill, he said.

But that means the proper hologram for the $50 bill, former prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, is replaced by former prime minister Wilfrid Laurier.

The fake $50 bill also features a row of 5s instead of a row of 50s on the hologram. “And if you look closely you can actually see the clear plastic tape that they’ve used to hold the bill together,” Buckler said.

Police have fielded four or five complaints about phoney money in the past few weeks, most of it $50 bills, Buckler said.

“It just seems to be that there’s more of an abundance at this point, at least in the Victoria area.”

Buckler said the reason for the predominance of $50 bills could simply be that whoever is making them has found a method of production that seems to work.

He said there are other things wrong with the counterfeit $50 bills.

“There’s no raised ink in it, it has a paper feel instead of that polymer feel and it’s actually a smaller-sized bill.”

It is difficult to say whether the counterfeit money was made locally, he said.

Convenience stores and fast-food restaurants have been the main targets, likely because both tend to have a high turnover of customers, Buckler said.

“So they may not be examining the bills as closely as other retail stores or other businesses might.”

Buckler urged all businesses to educate their staff about how to identify counterfeit bills.

“Take the time and don’t just accept the money, look at the money,” he said. “It’s that or become a victim.”

He warned that the public could also be a target through such things as cash deals made for goods advertised online.

jwbell@timescolonist.com

