Shop owners warned to be vigilant as fake notes are in circulation

SHOP owners and staff are being urged to keep an eye out for fake €50 notes after a prominent Sligo businessman was stung by forgers last weekend.

Finbarr Filan, who runs the Centra store on Castle Street in Sligo town and is the Director Of Sligo BID, admitted that the crooks had diddled him as they managed to pass not one dodgy note but two.

Now he is urging retailers across the town and county to be more vigilant and not to let the fraudsters win.

“Unfortunately, we took in two of them over the weekend,” he said.

“The notes are quite good.

“What typically happens is that the counterfeiters will come in when you’re busy or when there’s a queue and they (the notes) will look really good. They actually have the shiny silver holograph on them as well.

“The one thing that I would say to everybody is that on the edge (of a genuine note) there are little ridges of a real €50 note and they are not on these ones.

“So I will say to staff on all premises to scratch on the edge of the note and there will be no ridge on them.

“The markers that are commonly used to detect counterfeit notes are very good but, as I say, the counterfeiters usually come in when you’re busy and if there’s a long queue – and as long as the notes look good – people will just automatically take them in.

“So I would ask people to take a pause, check the ridges and use the marker and make sure that you’re taking in real notes.

“If you do happen to come across a note, do not give it back.

“Retain the note, tell the consumer that the note is fake and call the guards and let them deal with it.”