Counterfeit coins isssued to customers by High Streat Banks

[#1]

On "Fake Britain" this morning..... Dom.. and his crew, went to 5 high street banks, ( as part of the programme`s investigation into counterfeit coins)... and drew £1,000 in £1.00 coin.... then took them to a "expert"  in Norfolk... who put them through his machine which could sort real and fake coins..... the one`s that were considered "real"... were then individually inspected to find even more fakes....
The number of fake coins per  £1,000 bag full, went from 28 to 35 which gives a rough average of 3% of our coins in circulation being fake..... !...
transposed into actual value that was made out to be about 40 million pounds ! ! ! ...
Bring back the old Pound Note.... ( well an up to date version ).....I would suspect that it is so easy to "make your own" due to the amazing number of different designs issued by the Royal Mint....
The program did actually follow a police raid on some old farm buildings where the arrested one guy... and found several hundred plastic cash bags, and some coins .......

[#2]

Quote from: shutter

Bring back the old Pound Note.... ( well an up to date version )....

Why stop there. Lets have the ten bob note back as well      ".. ( well an up to date version ).."
Better real money instead of the toy town coins.

[#3]

It would be a bit difficult stuffing a pound note into the catch of a supermarket trolley lock.

[#4]

Morrisons have ceased to use that system..... ! 

[#5]

arnt they supposed to be bringing out the plastic bank note soon ?

[#6]

Lets just skip ahead and embed the contactless payment chips in to our hands.

[#7]

Quote from: rongtw

arnt they supposed to be bringing out the plastic bank note soon ?

Yes the B of E announced they will introduce plastic notes.

[#8]

The program referred in the OP  was a repeat of the original broadcast of about a year ago - though I doubt much has changed since
M

[#9]

It's illegal to use counterfeit coins , the bank's should have the facility to check all coins and not pass on dud ones, no doubt thay do not do this as they would have to stand the loss but if  you used a dud  bank note you would have to stand the loss

[#10]

that's essentially it shutter, if an individual hands in a fake coin they don't loose the cash but when the bank informs the BoE they have a stash of them then they get collected and not replaced, this lead to many banks ceasing to check and thus being able to safely continue without unnecessary losses (which they are allowed to do), however if your cash is detected as fake at the till then you the individual loose out, so the loss is spread about and effectively ignored......
it would be far better if actuall cash disappeared in order to get rid of the counterfeit currency however if you go digital whats to stop even more people figuring out how to doctor the numbers in there chip making the problem significantly worse ....

[#11]

Quote from: nanotm

that's essentially it shutter, if an individual hands in a fake coin they don't loose the cash

But you do lose out. If you are told a note or coin is a fake you commit a criminal offence to attempt to use it again. Some institutions such as banks would confiscate a fake coin or note and not replace it.

[#12]

if I walk into a bank and try to hand in a bag of coins and they notice one is fake and remove it from circulation its the bank that looses the cash from their balance sheet, the customer is protected under existing laws to ensure an innocent doesn't loose out,  any bank that acts in a different manner towards a private customer is actually breaking the law, otoh business customers are expected to take the loss themselves as similarly to the bank they are able to write off any amount against operating insurance .....

[#13]

@nanotm,
I Didn't know that, can you confirm that is accurate ?
Thanks

[#14]

According to this it isn't http://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/apr/06/counterfeit-pound-coin-guide

Quote

If you take a forgery to a bank will they give you a real one in return? No. "Counterfeit £1 coins are not genuine currency and no value can therefore be given for them," says the Mint. Lloyds TSB says if you got the fake from one of its branches it will reimburse you, up to a limit of £10 – it will check that you are a customer and have made a withdrawal of coins first.

[#15]

The only way that an innocent doesn't lose out is if they 'unknowingly' attempt to spend counterfeit currency.
[quote=From OJ's link]Can you get into trouble for unwittingly spending a fake £1 coin?
It seems not. The Royal Mint says: "Under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 it is an offence to knowingly pass on a counterfeit £1 coin." As long as you don't spend it "knowingly", you are in the clear.
By not losing I mean no prosecution (you would still lose the money).