City's fake coins alert
CROOKS are trying to sell bags of counterfeit cash on the streets of Sheffield, The Star can reveal today.
The revelation comes after the Royal Mint revealed the amount of forged coins in circulation has doubled in five years.
George Glover, chairman of the Moor Market Federation, said stallholders have been approached by people selling bags of fake 20 coins for 13 - and telling them to pass on to unsuspecting customers as change.
Mr Glover, who runs a jewellery stall, said: "In my experience, counterfeit money is a growing problem. Traders have been asked if they want to buy them and we also find we've been given them as payment - or even in the bags of money given out by banks."
He said market traders often have problems checking whether coins are genuine because scrutinising each one would cause hold-ups for customers and lose them business.
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Each fake coin costs traders money because it is not possible to exchange them for genuine ones.
But Mr Glover admitted stallholders have not reported incidents to police because they "do not have time".
Coin collector Trevor Lovett, from Barnsley, was handed a poor-quality fake pound coin as change in a Sheffield city centre pub.
He said: "If you check your change immediately, you can refuse it, but after that, there is very little you can do.
"You can identify fakes easily, however, because of their poor quality, different weight and, with mine, the Queen's head and design on the opposite side were not the matching way up."
Mr Lovett has kept his as a memento but police have warned that people are committing a criminal offence if they try to pass them on.
Insp Neil Mutch, who is in charge of Sheffield city centre safer neighbourhood team, added: "Anyone offered bags of fake coins should report it - we would like to hear information about large-scale counterfeiting.
"Anyone who finds they have been given a fake 1 coin should be aware that passing it on is an offence and the appropriate action is to take it into a bank."
Chf Supt Paul Broadbent, Sheffield District Policing Commander, said: "Like any other major city, we are bound to have issues of counterfeit currency being tendered either coins or notes.
"We have not however received a large number of complaints from members of the public receiving fake pound coins. We ask that members of the public and retailers be aware of what has been reported in the national media and be vigilant when exchanging cash."
The results of a sampling test by the Royal Mint showed that nationwide, up to two per cent of all the pound coins in circulation may be fake - approximately 30 million coins and double the level of five years ago.
Robert Matthews, formerly the Queen's Assay Master until he retired to become a coin consultant four years ago, said confidence in coins collapsed in other countries when forgery rates reached similar levels.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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