Give updates, guidelines on counterfeit money to protect public, Voon tells police

KUCHING: The police should provide information on the number of counterfeit banknotes detected in the state to raise public awareness on the situation.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat ( PKR) women national vice president Voon Shiak Ni said raising awareness would enable the public – shopkeepers and traders in particular – to avoid falling victim and suffering losses.

“I was alerted by friends that a police report over the usage of a fake RM100 note was lodged at Gita Police Station today (yesterday).

“It means that the fake notes are being circulated in the market and we urge everyone to be on the alert,” she said through a statement issued yesterday.

She called on the state Commercial Crime Investigation Department to release information on the use of counterfeit notes as a way to curb the criminal act.

Voon pointed to several such instances reported last year where shopkeepers were cheated of their goods and cash by customers using counterfeit money.

She said in March last year, police arrested four suspects here for processing and printing counterfeit notes, and seizing RM38,000 of such notes.

“We thus call upon the police to inform and update the public on the circulation and usage of fake notes in the market now, as well as the number of police reports which have been lodged since January this year in Sarawak.

“We also urged the police to provide guidelines to the public on how to identify and differentiate genuine notes from fake ones,” she added.