RBA thwarts $1.7m counterfeit scam

A massive fake cash bust has shown criminal groups are boosting their counterfeiting expertise.

Counterfeit $50 notes which police allege were found during a raid on a home on Clinton Ave at Burleigh Heads.

Critical anti-counterfeiting security features from the Reserve Bank put a halt to $1.7m in spurious bills earmarked to enter circulation in 2017, leading to a massive decline in fake bills washing around the economy.

The bank published details of a long-running anti-counterfeiting case that saw a couple in inner-city Sydney arrested and a sophisticated fake cash operation smashed.

The arrests in 2017 came only six months after the RBA first detected the counterfeiters’ fake bills.

Police charged the husband and wife duo with a number of crimes, including possession, uttering (or passing) and making counterfeit currency.

The primary counterfeiter was sentenced to four years and seven months jail time, with a non-parole period of two years and nine months.

The man’s wife was given an 18-month non-custodial sentence and ordered to pay a $100 fine.

NSW Police have convicted at least 166 people for counterfeiting currency since 2015.

In its bulletin on Thursday the bank noted the worryingly high quality of the counterfeits.

“They were printed on plastic, had a very similar look and feel to genuine banknotes and all overt — or visible — banknote security features had been simulated,” the bank noted.

“It was also clear they had been produced using techniques that were capable of producing large volumes of counterfeits.

“Based on the quality, quantity and methods used, the counterfeits appeared to have been produced by professional-level counterfeiters, with a distribution network and sufficient funding to start up an illegal high-volume counterfeiting business.”

Data from the RBA shows NSW is still the heart of currency counterfeiting, with 5180 incidents detected in the state to date.

That compares with only 321 detections of counterfeit currency by the RBA in Victoria.

On average the RBA picks up 50 counterfeits a month.

The bank noted that most counterfeit bills entered circulation through a retail business, with gaming, liquor, hospitality, clothing and department stores, and supermarkets accounting for the majority of entry points.

The $50 is the most forged note, but the bank noted there had been an increase in $100 bills in recent years.

Polymer notes were introduced in the early 1990s across Australia and levels of counterfeiting remained low until the early 2000s.

However, the RBA says easy access to sophisticated technology has helped criminal groups forge bills.

This increase in domestic and international polymer counterfeiting has been behind the push by the RBA to roll out new notes with more advanced security features.