Images of Leonard Nimoy began appearing on Canadian currency with increasing regularity following his death from lung disease on Friday.

Star Trek fans updated the portrait of Canada’s seventh prime minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier on five dollar notes so it possessed pointy ears, sharp eyebrows and the signature Vulcan haircut alongside the “Live long and prosper” mantra in a trend called ‘spocking’.

But the Bank of Canada have since issued the following complaint, saying that while defacing currency isn’t illegal, there are “important reasons it should not be done”.

Leonard Nimoy: The 10 best Spock quotes Show all 10 1 /10 Leonard Nimoy: The 10 best Spock quotes Leonard Nimoy: The 10 best Spock quotes The best Spock quotes "Live long and prosper." Hulton Archive/Getty Leonard Nimoy: The 10 best Spock quotes The best Spock quotes "Insufficient facts always invite danger." Getty Images Leonard Nimoy: The 10 best Spock quotes The best Spock quotes "Without followers, evil cannot spread." Getty Images Leonard Nimoy: The 10 best Spock quotes The best Spock quotes "Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life-forms and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before." Rex Features Leonard Nimoy: The 10 best Spock quotes The best Spock quotes "Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Rex Features Leonard Nimoy: The 10 best Spock quotes The best Spock quotes "Computers make excellent and efficient servants, but I have no wish to serve under them." Rex Features Leonard Nimoy: The 10 best Spock quotes The best Spock quotes "Fascinating is a word I use for the unexpected, in this case I would think interesting would suffice.” Hulton Archive/Getty Leonard Nimoy: The 10 best Spock quotes The best Spock quotes “May I say that I have not thoroughly enjoyed serving with Humans? I find their illogic and foolish emotions a constant irritant.” Hulton Archive/Getty Leonard Nimoy: The 10 best Spock quotes The best Spock quotes "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." Getty Images Leonard Nimoy: The 10 best Spock quotes The best Spock quotes "I realise that command does have its fascination, even under circumstances such as these, but I neither enjoy the idea of command nor am I frightened of it. It simply exists, and I will do whatever logically needs to be done." Getty Images