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Can you tell which of these $50 notes is fake?

When counting his money at the end of the day’s work, NSW milk delivery driver Ed Maclean, noticed something a little odd about one of his notes.

He hadn’t realised when it was first handed to him, but one of the $50 bills is slightly different from the others.

It has more of a papery, rather than plasticy feel, and appears slightly darker in colour to the others.

In fact, it’s a fake, and the first reported case of a counterfeit note in Orange, where Ed works, for a long time. NSW Police tell Be they're investigating the matter but believe it to be an isolated incident.

Would you be able to tell which of these notes is a fake? It's the top one.
Would you be able to tell which of these notes is a fake? It's the top one.

“You look at the note on its own and it just looks dodgy,” Ed, who found the note earlier this week, tells Central Western Daily.

“The window is the key part... it looks like it has been stuck on.”

The clear plastic window is one of the first sections of a note you should inspect when suspecting a fake, according to the Reserve Bank’s ‘counterfeit detection guide’.

It says, “The clear window should be an integral part of the banknote and not an addition.”

The RBA suggests looking at these elements in the $50 to tell if it's a fake. Photo: Reserve Bank of Australia
The RBA suggests looking at these elements in the $50 to tell if it's a fake. Photo: Reserve Bank of Australia

“Check that the white image printed on the window cannot be easily rubbed off. Also look for the embossing – there is a wave pattern in the window of the $10 banknote, and the value of the banknote in the windows of $20, $50 and $100 banknotes.”

The RBA’s guide also recommends checking if the note is made out of plastic or paper; a fake might feel thicker or thinner than a real bill, or be significantly easier to tear.

Another nifty way to check, is to hold the note up to the light and look for a number of hidden details.

The first is the little circle in the bottom right corner - normally, it looks like a pink circle with a couple of diamond shapes on either side, but when you hold it up to the light, you’ll see green triangles in the blank spaces.

Next, check the white space to the left of the ‘50’, it appears blank at first, but when you lift it to the light you should be able to see the Australian coat of arms.

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