Staff Reporter
Police are hunting down a syndicate suspected to be in possession of an undisclosed amount of fake South African banknotes.
Police spokesperson Clifford Molefe said it was not possible as yet to quantify the exact amount of fake notes doing the rounds in the market but urged the public to be on guard.
“There are fake R100 banknotes making the rounds in the market and a man suspected to be part of the syndicate was remanded in custody. He was found in possession of two fake R100 banknotes,” Senior Inspector Molefe said.
He said the police are trailing another man suspected of being from the same syndicate, who was in possession of similar fake notes.
“Another fake R100 note was taken off the market after attempts to deposit it in one of the local commercial banks.
“Members of the public must be vigilant when receiving monies at all times. Part of the features of the fake banknotes are that the Mandela picture is drawn by hand instead of being encrypted by a machine. The colours of the silver linings are not bold and shiny as seen in an original note,” Senior Inspector Molefe said.
Criminals dealing in fake banknotes normally try to exchange them in small quantities at a time in the market to avoid getting detected.
