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Today's page of my 2011 Collins diary says that 2.5% of £1 coins in circulation are counterfeit. I've been caught once.
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I got some obscure African coin in my change once - worth about 25p it was to all intents and purposes a £1.00 coin....
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Use it steal a Supermarket trolley for the Barbeque season.
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Don't the fakes have chocolate inside?
The real goodie for faking is the 500 Euro note.
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I've had dozens of the damn things from customers, although the numbers do seem to have decreased in recent years. Either that or they are harder to spot.
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>>The real goodie for faking is the 500 Euro note. <<
It would fool me - I've never seen a 500 euro note.
Most supermarkets round here have signs up saying they won't take them.
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I was offered ten 500 Euro notes for my old GS by its Belgian buyer - Known as Bin Ladens in the Criminal Justice slang....i.e. everyone knows it exists but no-one has ever seen one....
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>> It would fool me - I've never seen a 500 euro note.
I have. My Swedish speaking half brother came over from Finland with one. I guess someone in Devon must have accepted it as legal tender. I would not accept one, except maybe from a bank, but even then I'm not sure I could spend it, so on balance I think I'd pass, unless it was free.
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Apparently it costs more than £1 to make a £1 coin, so the Royal Mint is privately quite happy to see the fakes in circulation as a form of quantitative easing.
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>> Apparently it costs more than £1 to make a £1 coin, so the Royal Mint
>> is privately quite happy to see the fakes in circulation as a form of quantitative
>> easing.
>>
After a local shop refused to accept it, I showed mine to my bank (purely for their opinion) and they confiscated it. They said it would be returned to the Royal Mint to be destroyed.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Tue 28 Dec 10 at 14:29
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There was a very good little programme on BBC Wales - "Royal Mint" there were about 6 in the series broadcast in the last few weeks - don't know if was broadcast outside the colony but very interesting.
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Even in the benighted Euro-land there are very few shops which will accept a 500€ note - in fact many have signs posted saying that they won't.
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The trader that bought my bike says that he always pays for his UK sourced bikes in 500 euro notes and was somewhat non-plussed when I declined them on the grounds that no-one would want them around here..
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>>
>> After a local shop refused to accept it, I showed mine to my bank (purely
>> for their opinion) and they confiscated it. They said it would be returned to the
>> Royal Mint to be destroyed.
>>
I lost a twenty like that once when I was paying money in. I hadn't realised it was a ringer till the cashier pointed it out, much to my embarrassment as it was such an obvious fake it could have been spotted from Mars.
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Is there an actual law giving banks the right to confiscate currency they believe to be counterfeit?
And if there is, does the right extend to ordinary shops?
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I believe banks have a legal obligation to confiscate counterfeit currency. Shops can only refuse to accept it.
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It is an offence to have in your custody or control any coin or note that you know to be a forgery. Therefore if the bank tell you that it is a forgery you would be committing an offence of you were not to surrender the notes or coins.
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That doesn't appear to give the bank the legal right to confiscate it. There are lots of things it would be illegal for me to have in my custody or control, but banks don't presume to have the right to police them.
(Knives, pornography, official secrets, bombs)
In any case, it is only the teller's personal opinion. I have had different opinions from different banks, and I believe there was a recent court case in which a bank incorrectly seized a £20 note which turned out not to be counterfeit.
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You're right Cliff. general banks don't have any more authority over counterfeit currency than they do over the yellow lines outside, nor are they trained experts. To prove a note or coin counterfeit for evidential purposes it goes to the B of E. If you do happen to be passed counterfeit money and you take it to plod you won't get a receipt for it (at least you shouldn't) since it isn't money and has no worth.
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Counterfeit £1 coins - R.P.
