Business people are advised to be on guard as counterfeit foreign currency has surfaced. Guyana Times was shown surveillance footage of an alleged fraudster who exchanged a counterfeit US note for Guyana currency at a shop in Kitty on Sunday.
According to the proprietor, the perpetrator entered the grocery shop a little before 14:00h, appearing as a regular customer. He then bought about $4000 worth in groceries, however, just before he was about to leave, he asked the shop owner to assist him in changing a US$50 note, which the businessman agreed to do.
The proprietor explained that he made the shocking discovery shortly after the man left, when his wife noticed that the highlighter
The counterfeit note the shop owner exchanged on Sunday afternoon
imprinted its mark deep into the US$50 note; this is usually the case with counterfeit notes. When used on genuine notes, the ink would fade after sometime. This publication was given a demonstration using a US$1 note.
The Kitty businessman explained that he doesn’t normally change money but gave into the man’s request.
“I changed his $50 note but there were other customers waiting so I did not go to check; I changed it hurriedly thinking I could assist the rest of customers which I realised was the wrong thing to do there, not to check the note before,” he noted.
He pointed out that after four years of operating his business, this is the first time that such an event occurred and indicated that in future he would be reluctant to assist customers who may ask for help.
“It definitely made an impact on me because when the mistress came over and she realised the note is not good, I kind of break down because I work very hard,” he stressed.
He added that he intends to report the matter to the police, who will retrieve the note and obtain the shop’s surveillance footage as evidence.
