The police have announced, for the second time in a fortnight, that counterfeit editions of the new 200 kroner (kr) note are in circulation.
At the end of May, the new Norwegian bills, bearing a sea motif, became available to the Norwegian people. Now the police are receiving reports that a significant percentage of the banknotes are forged, and being used as payment in shops and relevant establishments. Several cases where individuals attempted to pass the bills were reported in Oslo and Tønsberg this summer.
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Rak Thai Spicy Restaurant and Bar, situated in Grønland in Oslo, received a fake 200 kr note on Monday. The fake note had thick paper, the colour was washed out in the tray, the print was dry, and it didn’t have a ribbon, reported Dagbladet newspaper.
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Increase of fake notes being passed
Oslo Police District Office informed NTB news agency that they’ve received a total of 27 cases of counterfeit notes since the 1st of May until today, and that the number of cases has increased since last year. Ten of the instances include counterfeit 200kr notes.
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According to the vice president of Proff Security Company, Jimmy Rao, Dagbladet newspaper has talked with a number of people who say that such notes are circulating in Oslo city center.
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‘Many employees are not familiar with the new banknotes. They may not have seen them before. Almost no one notices the difference,’ he said.
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Notes being widely used in Vestfold
The police in Tønsberg also report a large problem with currency counterfeiting, a curiously 19th century crime. According to NRK news, the notes have been used in Tønsberg center, and at Sem, Nøtterøy and Tjøme. Up to now, fake 50 and 200 notes have been discovered.
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‘We have had between 20 and 30 cases where counterfeit notes have been discovered this summer,’ Knut Erik Ågrav, the Head of the Investigation Division of Tønsberg Police, told Dagbladet newspaper.
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He added that this is a huge rise in cases, as the police didn’t previously investigate 30 such cases annually. So far, Tønsberg Police have arrested three to four suspects for passing counterfeit banknotes in and around the city. These suspects were charged for negligence after claiming they didn’t know that the banknotes were counterfeit.
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The police still don’t know who is behind the production of the fake banknotes, but encourage anyone who suspects they have received counterfeit banknotes to report it.
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© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
