Passing Of Counterfeit Banknotes

[Khandro]

I waited behind a guy in a travel agent's money exchange counter last week in England and he (a backpacker type) wanted to change some euros to pounds - 2 hundreds, 1 twenty and 1 ten. After much examination of one of the hundreds and consulting with a colleague she told him that she could not change it, but could change the other hundred and the 20 and the 10.
He was rather cross, saying it was the only money he had and said give it all back to me which she did and left the shop.
I asked her if she thought it was a forgery and she nodded yes.

Is passing forged currency a crime (even if you are unaware of it), and was she committing a crime by giving it back to him?

[Jackdaw33]

No, you must knowingly pass forgeries. This happened to me once when a shop assistant suspected a £20 note to be a forgery. I had just got the notes out of the ATM. She called the police who examined the note and declared it to be genuine. I'm not sure what the procedure is with foreign currency.

[EDDIE51]

If a bank or currency exchange suspects notes are forgeries they can not hand them back, they have to give a receipt for them and hand them over to be examined to see if they are real. Happened to me a few years back , the note turned out to be real but out of date , so they changed it , but only after 3 days wait. The bank told me that if it had been a forgery they had no option but to hand it to the police with details of who tried to change it.

[Khandro]

That's what I instinctively thought Eddie, she really knew it was a forgery - and maybe he did too - and shouldn't have handed it back. Instead of accepting the change of €130. he wanted all of it returned, possibly as it might be easier to pass off the dud among the others.
I wondered if in law, like stolen goods, it is still a crime, even if the handler claims no knowledge.

[THECORBYLOON]

If she had said it was a forgery and handed it back then it could be argued he had a banknote he knew or believed to be a forgery and that is an offence.

[EDDIE51]

The travel agent should have kept the note and only given the guy a receipt as I said, that is the law. But the agent probably does not want the hassle of taking the man's cash off him and the probable abuse. As you say, as soon as the agent/bank has reason to suspect the notes are forged it becomes a crime for that agent to pass them back.

[fiction-factory]

Jackdaw33
No, you must knowingly pass forgeries.

Is that what you meant to say, Jackdaw?

[Jackdaw33]

Should have added, 'for it to be an offence'.

[Peter Pedant]

I notice there is a new Counterfeiting and Forgery act ... 2006 I think

Possession of counterfeit notes is itself a crime ( or used to be )
and this accounts for the times on television where a reporter asks a Bank official which of the two notes in his hand are forgeries

and the Bank official loses his sense of humour and snarls: "neither ! if I find you have brought a forgery into the studio - I will have you arrested as you leave the Beeb!"

oops

but but but - Euros arent legal tender in the UK....

Did anyone see the eviction program where they found as they evicted, 8 million forged dollars ? In the end they did nothing I think ....

[jno]

ah, welcome back, PP, good to see you again.

Sorry, Khandro, please carry on.

[ladybirder]

Yes I did pp. They called the police but then left so can't remember what/if anything happened after that.

[Khandro]

Further research shows that presenting a forged bank note can carry a max. sentence of 10 years in the clink!
It was a hot day in Stroud, my foot hurt and so I grabbed a chair, had to wait about ten minutes while she tested the note checking online. I had plenty of time to watch his body language and I think he knew what he was doing. I guess he was lucky to get out with all the notes.