Gardaí are urging the public to be aware of fake €50 notes following a woman duping staff in a large Naas toy store.
At Smyth’s Toy Store, Naas, between Saturday, May 4, last, and May 5, a woman, described as being middle-aged, is reported to have handed over a counterfeit €50 note in exchange for Lego and left the shop at The Globe Retail Park with change.
The last fake €50 handed over to the store was ‘very well replicated’ because of the grooves on the side of it.
The €50 fake note handed in had a ‘perfume spray on it.’
We urge you to watch out for a ‘glossy wax’ in the front of the notes.
We urge our members to remind all their staff members to hold the note up to a light and check for watermarks. Counterfeit pens contain a tincture of iodine as ink which, when drawn over a legitimate note, will make a temporary amber mark. The iodine will react with any starches present in the paper. Starch is the primary component used to make white paper look brighter. Most commercial paper, made from wood pulp, is brown unless bleached and starched. If there is starch present in the paper then the mark will be dark brown or black and will not fade, indicating that the note is suspicious.
A number of our members have brought to our attention features of the fake €50 notes in circulation – see below
- Get past the pen test (did not leave the yellow mark but it did not turn blue either)
- Look new
- 2017 date
- The silver the hologram won’t turn 50
- Around the 50 letters on note there are round raised dots
- Shiny paper though much more genuine looking
