{"id":57255,"date":"2026-07-24T00:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T00:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/57255\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T00:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T00:52:11","slug":"counterfeit-notes-seized-as-north-queensland-grapples-with-waves-of-fake-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/57255\/","title":{"rendered":"Counterfeit notes seized as North Queensland grapples with ‘waves’ of fake cash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Macean Francis was excited to hold a bundle of $50 notes in his hand after selling his motorbike.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It marked the start of the 18-year-old’s savings fund to buy a more reliable vehicle for the 45-minute commute from his home in Seaforth to his job as an apprentice barber in Mackay.<\/p>\n

“I needed that money because I wanted to buy parts to fix up a car,” he said.<\/p>\n

But his mother, Mel Francis, said elation soon turned to dismay after the buyers drove off with the dirt bike.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mel Francis says while she was happy the bike had been found, the whole experience left her shocked and saddened.\u00a0 (ABC Tropical North: Liam O’Connell)<\/p>\n

While talking with a friend, Mr Francis realised the notes, totalling $2,850, were “millimetres wrong”.<\/p>\n

“He rang me, and I could tell something wasn’t right,” Ms Francis said.<\/p>\n

“Straight away, as a mother, you think they’ve had a car accident or something bad, but he goes, ‘I don’t think the money they paid me is real money.'”<\/p>\n

Ms Francis said it was not immediately obvious the roll of $50 notes was fake until they were compared with genuine notes.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Border Force has seen a surge of better quality counterfeits imported into Australia.\u00a0 (ABC News: Shaun Kingma)<\/p>\n

When the notes were handed to police, they told Mr Francis it was the “closest counterfeit money they’ve ever seen”.<\/p>\n

“When the cops told me it was fake, I was just in disbelief, lost for words really,” he said.Most counterfeit notes imported<\/p>\n

Police said the fake 50s had been circulating in Mackay, the Whitsundays and Darling Downs since February.<\/p>\n

Officer in charge of the Mackay Whitsunday Police District, Superintendent Dean Cavanagh, said more counterfeit money was being brought into the region.<\/p>\n

“Often it’s one or two $50 notes; generally you won’t see more than $3,000,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dean Cavanagh says counterfeit notes are often detected in much smaller quantities.\u00a0 (ABC Tropical North: Liam O’Connell)<\/p>\n

To check security features on bank notes:\u00a0Hold up to the light to see a seven-pointed star and the Australian Coat of ArmsTilt to see the bird’s wings move and change colour, and the number change directionCheck a clear window is part of the banknoteTilt to see a rolling colour effectUse a UV light to see features fluoresce<\/p>\n

In 2025, 9,277 Queensland crimes were categorised as “other fraud”, which included counterfeit currency offences.<\/p>\n

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) was broadly critical of the “low quality” of counterfeits generally but warned they could “pass a cursory inspection”.<\/p>\n

Superintendent Cavanagh said the presence of counterfeit notes generally “goes through waves”.<\/p>\n

“We will have no counterfeit notes for an extended period, but they won’t just [print] one note.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The RBA warned there had been an increase in counterfeit note importations.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the bank said the majority of counterfeits detected in the past year were produced overseas.<\/p>\n

It previously warned improvements in 3D-printing technology were making it easier for counterfeiters to copy some security features in polymer notes.<\/p>\n

It said the texture was one of the best ways to check a note’s authenticity, with counterfeits often feeling smoother.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Security features on genuine notes include hidden microtext and invisible ink that only appears under UV light. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Motorbike recovered<\/p>\n

Police recovered the motorbike on July 3 at a property in Armstrong Beach, south of Mackay, and charged a 48-year-old woman with possessing counterfeit money, fraud and possession of methylamphetamine.<\/p>\n

They allege a search of the property also uncovered two other stolen vehicles and said a “small quantity of counterfeit currency was located”.<\/p>\n

Ms Francis said the $450 fee to have the motorbike released from a towing company’s yard was too much.<\/p>\n

“We ended up paying because the longer they have it in their holding yard, the fee goes up,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Macean Francis says, despite his experience, he will still use online marketplaces. (ABC Tropical North: Liam O’Connell)<\/p>\n

“Obviously they don’t want us to know the address of where the bike was located, but [they could] give us an option.”<\/p>\n

Despite the tough lesson about using online marketplaces, Mr Francis said he had already listed a dinghy for sale.<\/p>\n

“I’m definitely going to be a bit wary, get a receipt and have them sign their name,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Macean Francis was excited to hold a bundle of $50 notes in his hand after selling his motorbike.\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,58913,58909,29039,36611,58912,58911,58910,1763],"class_list":["post-57255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-counterfeit-currency","tag-counterfeit-money","tag-dirt-bike","tag-ebay","tag-fake-50s","tag-fake-money","tag-prop-money","tag-reserve-bank-of-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}