Kevin Allerston
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 15/05) - RCMP are urging Yellowknifers to be more careful next time they come across a $50 bill: it could be a phoney.

In the last week, police say there has been a surge in the number of fake $50 bank notes in Yellowknife.

The pinky-red half-C note features a snowy owl on one side and one-time prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King on the other.

Police have noticed a bump in the number of counterfeit $50 bills being reported in Yellowknife. Here, RCMP Const. Darcy Fleury shows some of the fake money, Tuesday. - Kevin Allerston/NNSL photo

According to Glen Demmon of the RCMP Commercial Crime unit, 15 suspicious bills were reported by banks in the last week. Of those, 14 have proven to be counterfeit.

"Usually there's maybe one report a week," Demmon said on Tuesday.

"It's out of the ordinary that you would get such a large number all at once with the same poor quality of all of the notes. It leads us to believe they are all from the same source," Demmon said.

The dubious money passed through three Yellowknife businesses. It's a hard pill to swallow for victimized businesses because they cannot recoup the money. Police say counterfeiters tend to target larger businesses where lots of money changes hands quickly.

Bars are also good targets. They can be dark, making it easier slip a fake bill by an unsuspecting cashier, he said.

"It's certainly a big problem and it costs everybody," said Gary Mulligan, general manager of Canadian Tire.

"If I come across $50 and it's counterfeit, it's a loss for us, because the bank is not going to accept them," Mulligan said.

Two of the bills went through his store, in spite of scanners to detect forgeries. But Mulligan said he is not ruling out having his store reject large bills at the counter.

Many businesses, especially smaller mom-and-pop stores, won't handle anything larger than a $20 for fear of getting burned.

Bank machines have stopped spitting out $50 and $100 notes in most locations because people complain stores won't accept the bills.

David Luntz owns Chipman 1/4 Pound Fries on 50th Street. He said two weeks ago a man came to him with a stack of $50 bills looking to have them broken into change.

"There was a guy who came up here and he had a stack of 50s, and he said 'Oh, can I change a couple 50s' and I said 'get out of here,'" Luntz said. "At first I didn't think anything of it and then it clicked that it was a little weird. That would be $5,000, I bet," Luntz said of the wad of bills. "Would I know the difference (between real or fake)? Probably not." Fake bills can be identified fairly easily, if you know what to look for.

On older $10, $20 and $50 notes, there is an optical security device on the top left corner that should shift between gold and green. When photocopied, it turns black. Authentic notes also have green dots that glow under florescent lights and peel off on a real bill - not so if the bill is a forgery.

Most money is printed on special paper. Store staff should get to know the feel of the real thing and compare that to other kinds of paper.

Mini 'hairs'

As well, real money will reveal mini "hairs" woven within the fabric - it's 100 per cent cotton - of the bill.

The newest editions of these bills have "watermark" images: hold the paper up to light and you'll see a ghostly face in what looks like a blank spot on the bill.

The latest bills also have micro ribbons of wire. Some stores train staff about questionable bills and tactics people use to palm them off on the novice cashier.

There is useful equipment to fight the fakes, too. Small "black lights" installed at the till will bring out glowing security features of legit money. Some merchants weapon-up their staff with special marking pens that turn colour only on bad bucks.

But what about Yankee greenbacks? Because it's not unusual to have American paper money in Yellowknife, training staff on what it looks like would help protect the bottom line, too.

If you think you may be in possession of a counterfeit bill, police ask you to report it to the RCMP or have it checked at a bank.

It is a crime to knowingly be in possession of counterfeit money and those caught could face a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

- with files from Chris Woodall