Forged euro note recovered

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The forgery was passed at a supermarket in Straffan, County Kildare, on Wednesday night, as mass euro spending got under way following the changeover.

Staff at Walsh's supermarket did not spot the fake 10-euro note until it was given back to a customer in her change for IR£20.

As the shopper cast an inquisitive eye across the new currency she noticed that the forgery was smaller than another 10 euro note she had and reported it to shop manager Fergus Walsh.

Mr Walsh said: "We were so busy with the new currency and working out how to give euro change for Irish punts that a mistake like this was easy to make.

"One side of the note was forged better than the other, so it must have been handed over facing that way and the assistant did not notice.

"People were not so careful at first because no forgeries had been reported, but we will all check notes a lot more carefully now."

Police said the "poor quality" forged note appeared to be a coloured photocopy of an original.

Superintendent John Farrelly said the forgery was so bad that it would have been spotted if the cashier was more familiar with the new currency.

But he warned: "I would imagine if there was one there would be more. It feels like a note that has been in circulation for two or three years. No euro note can feel like that at this stage because the notes have only been in circulation for three of four days.

"It is also smaller than an actual 10 euro note and the metal strip that is on the right hand side of a 10 euro note is non existent on the forgery.

"The coloration is slightly off and there is no watermark, so in actual fact it is a very crude attempt."

He added: "If a note like this was passed over a counter in the next few days I think it would be picked up."

There were a "huge amount" of security features on the new euro notes, including a watermark, hologram and metal strip, he said.

People who handled cash at work should take the time to become familiar with the security features in order to spot fakes, Mr Farrelly said, adding: "I think this case was an opportunity on the first real day of trading to slip a forged note in when a lot of transactions were going on."