The London Police Service is out with a warning after discovering an influx of counterfeit $50 and $100 bills in the city.
According to police, the fake bills making the rounds in London over the past few days are replicas of the 1969-1979 “Scenes of Canada” series.
“When you see them, you would say ‘wow those are old, old Canadian style of bills’,” Sgt. Blair Harvey explained to AM980.
“I’m going to suggest that if someone presents one of these bills as payment for something in a retail setting that the clerk should be highly suspicious of the bills being counterfeit.”
The bills are not polymer and the majority that police have seen are $100 bank notes, though $50 bank notes have been seen as well.
Sgt. Harvey noted that this is the first influx of counterfeit Canadian bills in at least a few years.
“We’ve seen similar trends in the past but it’s generally been with U.S. currency. This is the first real influx of bad Canadian currency that we’ve seen in some time.”
Police encourage businesses to review policies on accepting large bills and to remain diligent. More information can be found on the Bank of Canada website and anyone with information on the counterfeit bills is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.