Watch out, counterfeits could be about | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

A counterfeiter may be passing around dodgy currency. A Masterton business owner has told police he accepted a $50 note before realising it was fake.
Senior Sergeant Warwick Burr said until the police saw the note the case remained unconfirmed but they were aware of another business owner turning away a person after being handed a fake $50 note. ''We want to put a warning out there to the public and the business community that there's a possibility of forged notes and if there are any suspicions they should contact police,'' he said.
Gordon Sharf, head of the document examination unit at National Police Headquarters, said counterfeiting of New Zealand notes was rare because it didn't have the universal acceptability of overseas currency such as from the United States. Most counterfeiting in New Zealand was low grade, with hoaxers using an inkjet printer and cellotape or cellophane to replicate the plastic window on notes.
Fakes were easy to spot because counterfeiters couldn't recreate the raised ink effect or the watermark of the Queen visible when held up to light.
That didn't mean it was impossible: ''No one has done it yet but I'm not going to make a suggestion,'' Mr Sharf said.
In Europe, where counterfeiting of the euro was rife, notes were often examined by business owners.
''The tricky thing is because counterfeiting is so low in New Zealand we don't have a culture of checking our notes.''
The biggest case of forgery in New Zealand is before the courts after three men based in Auckland tried to pass $100 and $50 notes off while driving throughout the North Island.