{"id":490949,"date":"2026-02-19T21:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/490949\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T21:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:16:13","slug":"police-issue-warning-as-counterfeit-cash-circulates-through-queenslands-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/490949\/","title":{"rendered":"Police issue warning as counterfeit cash circulates through Queensland’s east"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police are telling people to stay on the lookout for fake cash circulating in Queensland’s east after three arrests and a \ufeffsurge in reports of counterfeit notes being found at multiple venues.<\/p>\n

Police said the counterfeit $50 notes have been found at restaurants, shops, and service stations throughout Mackay<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The dodgy notes are identified with markings such as the word “PROP” on them, missing security features or repeated serial numbers.<\/p>\n

\"AA fake bill used in Queensland’s east. (Queensland Police)<\/p>\n

Police have since charged three people in relation to the distribution with multiple incidents this month.<\/p>\n

\ufeffThe charges range from possessing counterfeit money, circulating the cash and fraudulent<\/a> transactions.<\/p>\n

Detective Acting Sergeant Adam Hargrave is urging businesses to remain wary and check the quality of the currency before accepting it.<\/p>\n

“Check bank notes for security features including the serial number, coat of arms watermark, and a clear plastic window,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If counterfeit notes are detected, businesses should record the time and date an individual attended the store and provide any relevant CCTV footage<\/a> to assist police investigations.”<\/p>\n

The warning from police comes just months after a surge in counterfeit cash in both South Australia and NSW. \ufeff<\/p>\n

In October last year, NSW police seized $2600 in fake notes<\/a> \ufeffthat were used at businesses across the state’s Hunter Valley region.That same month, South Australian police said they had received 124 reports of counterfeit cash<\/a> with $50 and $100 notes being used to make small purchases to gain large amounts of legitimate currency as change. \ufeff<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police are telling people to stay on the lookout for fake cash circulating in Queensland’s east after three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-490949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}