Warning over fake K100 notes

By JUNIOR UKAHA
POLICE have warned the people and businesses in Lae to be on the lookout for fake K100 notes being circulated in the city.
Metropolitan Superintendent Anthony Wagambie Jr raised the alarm yesterday after a man was caught with the fake notes totalling K3700 last Saturday at Busurum.
He was trying to buy alcohol at a shop when the cashier noticed the fake note.
The man told police that the money was brought by a friend from Port Moresby.
Police are looking for other men believed to be in possession of the counterfeit notes.
“The fake notes look real and can be easily mistaken when used to pay for goods and services during the rush hour,” he said.
He said it could be identified by the absence of “features” which were on the genuine K100 notes, and that the paper was hard to fold.
The print can easily come off when in contact with water.
“This is something which will affect the community, as those providing services will lose out big time from receiving fake money,” Wagambie said.
Wagambie said Bank of PNG officials were in Lae last weekend after being informed of the matter.
“It is up to the BPNG to carry out more awareness on this by using the media,” he said.
Wagambie said the man and his two pals had gone to a shop around 3pm last Saturday at the Busurum Compound to buy alcohol.
They managed to get away with it.
But when one of them later tried to buy more alcohol, the shop attendant discovered that the note felt a little different.
“On looking closer she realised that the fake note didn’t have some of the security features like the transparent part on the real K100 note,” Wagambie said.
It was the shop manager and security guards who called the police.