SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
Team Herald
A cloth merchant in Panjim, Goa, was recently victimized by a scam involving fake currency notes. The merchant was swindled out of 750 rupees by an unidentified girl who handed him notes, each with a denomination of 200 rupees, supposedly from the Children's Bank of India.
These fake notes, resembling real currency notes, were a part of a children's board game. They even had a similar texture and appearance as the authentic notes, except for a few noticeable differences. Instead of the usual serial number, they had the words 'Full of fun' printed in that area. Furthermore, the notes bore the inscription 'Children's Bank of India' instead of the legitimate 'Reserve Bank of India.'
The incident only came to light when the shopkeeper was counting his cash late in the evening, likely due to the hectic nature of business during the day. It was at this moment that he discovered the presence of the counterfeit notes, realizing he had fallen victim to the scam. Unfortunately, this is not the first instance of such fraud in the State.
It may be recalled that earlier this month similar incident took place at a petrol pump in Dhargal where a four-wheeler driver deceived the attendant, who passed on four fake notes of Rs. 500 amounting to Rs 2,000 after a fuel purchase. A person had surfaced notes with the label 'Children Bank of India'.
The first incident of fake notes was reported in 2017 in Goa, wherein Calangute police had arrested six tourists from Andra Pradesh, Calangute police sources said that the Andhra tourists had managed to make a Rs. 500 fake note. Since then, OHeraldo has been highlighting this issue. In 2017 OHeraldo had reported that traders were getting defrauded by fake Rs 2,000 notes.
