The public have been warned about counterfeit banknotes that are circulating in Papua New Guinea nowadays.

Inspector Augustine Laho, Station Commander at Vanimo Police Station, confirmed on 18th July the "giaman moni" (fake banknotes) mainly in K50 notes were detected early this month in Vanimo town.

Bank south Pacific Managing Director Garth McIllwain said the bank had heard of the counterfeit notes.

'They appear from time to time and it seemed that sophisticated colour copiers were used to produce them," he said.

He said fake banknotes were generally passed onto "unsuspected" people and often come into the banking system.

"When they do, they are worthless so the person or company presenting these notes at the bank recieves no value for them," he said.

The fake notes were generally surrendered to the Bank of Papua New Guinea so it could undertake an investigation.

BPNG is the sole issuer of PNG currency- both notes and coins. The BPNG issues a public warning if it appears that there is a significant number of fake notes bening detected.

It seems that K50 in fake bank notes have been in circulation in Vanimo and already investigations are underway to establish the source of the fake notes believed to enter PNG through boats and ships.

He said on July 5th, a "large amount" of counterfeit K50 banknotes were deposited at the Vanimo branch.

The bank officials were quick to identify that all the K50 notes were fake because there was only one serial number "1738".

The notes were included in a bank deposit from Rainbow Supermarket in Vanimo. Inspector Laho said very community, trade stores, banks, clubs, hotels, supermarkets, business houses should display the serial number to make it easier to identify the fake notes.

"If you detect on of these notes with the serial number 1738, report it immediately to the police station close to you," he said.

In another incident, a total of K800 in fake K50 banknotes were used by a man to shop at a Batas stall, a store owned by an Indonesian businessman, discovered they were fake and raised the alarm. The stall is located at Wutung on the other side of Indonesia close to the border.

Inspector Laho said police were unable to arrest the man because he went into hiding.

Andersons Foodland Supermarket in Tabubil had sent out a warning to the public that the counterfeit money was circulating in Tabubil.

Staff members at Andersons had been asked to be aware of fake money and be on the look out for banknotes (ranging from K50 to K5).

* That is slightly smaller in size to the real one; * The money has a "washed-out" look about it, as the counterfeits wash the money to remove loose ink and make it look old so it's not as obvious; * The serial number will be the same; * The fake bill does not show the silver security strip when held against the light