Residents and businesses in Burnham-On-Sea are this week being warned to be on the look out for fake bank notes circulating in the town.
It comes after a shopper handed over a counterfeit £50 note at a shop to make a large purchase in the town centre on Friday afternoon (October 17th).
One of the staff, who asked not to be named, contacted Burnham-On-Sea.com to pass on the warning.
“The note was a very good counterfeit with perfect colours and artwork, but the paper was wrong and fortunately we always check larger notes with a security pen and found it was fake,” he said.
“Smaller businesses might not do this and they may accept them unwittingly, but they and shoppers need to be on the look out.”
Earlier in the week, another Burnham town centre was also targeted when a £50 counterfeit note was handed to a cashier. On both occasions, they were identified and no goods were handed over.
£50 banknotes carrying the portrait of the first governor of the Bank of England Sir John Houblon were withdrawn from circulation earlier this year. The only £50 note that now holds legal tender status is that displaying entrepreneur Matthew Boulton and engineer James Watt.
