Inuvik (Mar 28/03) - Inuvik RCMP are on the hunt for someone who is printing money without a licence.

Staff Sgt. Mark Wharton said police have received two phony $20 bills that were passed at local businesses.

Wharton said one turned up in January and another was passed last week, but both are believed to have come from the same source.

"All the counterfeits found has the exact same serial number," Wharton said.

That serial number is AWH9875631. Wharton said there are several other characteristics that make the bills easy to identify.

"It's the same size, but the paper feels different," he said. "It feels more like paper than money; it has a different texture."

The phony bills also have no watermarks visible, and some of the colours appear as blue rather than green.

While the money looks and feels different than good bills, Wharton said the fakes are quite realistic.

"It's of moderate quality," he said. "I've seen better and I've seen much worse."

Yellowknife has had some counterfeit bills turn up recently and Wharton said it may be that the bills came from there. "It's hard to say; there are colour printers everywhere."

Manufacturing, possessing and passing counterfeit money all carry a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.