Western Uusimaa Police are warning about counterfeit cash circulating in the region.
Police say the forgeries are not very good and should be easy to spot as they don’t have all the security features a real note would have.
Some of the fake cash has already been spotted by cashiers, and police are asking local residents to pay close attention to the notes they get and to report any possible dodgy money to authorities.
Anyone with information should email [email protected] or call 0295 413 031.
Counterfeit cases in Eastern Finland
The Espoo forgery warning comes just a week after Eastern Finland Police report a rash of counterfeit cash being detected in their region too.
So far this year there’s been 17 cases of counterfeit money by the police force: seven in Kouvola, four in Kotka and four in Lappeenranta – as well as individual instances in Hamina and Ruokolahti.
By comparison, there were only four offenses uncovered during the whole of last year in the region.
Most of the cases that have come to police attention have been discovered in banks or shops, when the counterfeit notes were already used as a means of payment but not detected as forgeries.
Although usually officers might expect large denomination notes to be forged, in this case there are also smaller denominations like fake €5 bills being used, and police say the quality of the counterfeiting is quite high.
Authorities are urging shops and businesses that take cash payments to use an authentication device, and start using it even for smaller value notes.
