Police arrest pair after funny money found
By: Ian Hitchen, BRANDON SUN

Mounties have arrested a pair of Kelowna men they believe were Brandon-bound with thousands of dollars in counterfeit money. Blue Hills RCMP Corp. Gary Bardal said two men were found at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday near a 1995 Plymouth Neon about 10 kilometres west of Alexander.

Inside the trunk of the car, which was reported stolen from Kelowna, officers found $3,400 in counterfeit $100 bills.

“These bills are identified as top-quality counterfeit and are very difficult to detect,” Bardal said.

The bills were printed on 11 sheets of paper, three to a page, and another $100 bill was found in a wallet. Officers also found $2,265 in legitimate money.

Mounties believe the pair was headed for Brandon and that a number of counterfeit bills have already been handed out in B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan along the Trans-Canada Highway. The pair, age 19 and 23, are in custody pending court appearances today. They are facing charges of possessing stolen property, counterfeit money and counterfeiting instruments.

Coincidentally, their charges came on the same day the Brandon Police Service unveiled a new piece of technology that could make it easier for cops to catch counterfeiters.

The BPS presented its new counterfeit detectors yesterday, after the force has received 106 reports of fake currency in the last 18 months.

“I think in the last few years we’ve started to see more and more,” said BPS Staff Sgt. Shane Corley, adding technology has made it easier to make convincing copies.

Counterfeiters have even managed to mimic paper texture and holograms. They’re getting so good, Corley said, it’s likely a number are circulating without detection.

“We really have a hard time telling the counterfeit bill from the real bill,” he said. “I would think we only get a fraction reported to us.”

According to RCMP statistics 43,303 false Canadian notes were passed in 2003, while 552,980 were used in 2004.

Counterfeits of various denominations have been found in Brandon for years. They’ve been made by gangs and even a high school student with a photocopier.

About three months ago, Corley said, a pair of Saskatchewan men were in town handing out high-quality fakes made with a computer. The BPS investigated and the suspects were caught in Regina.

Six or seven years ago, the force seized a sum of fake cash linked to the Manitoba Warriors.

The force used to send suspect bills to RCMP headquarters in Ottawa for testing, a process that could take months. Now, however, they’re able to check more quickly as the Westoba Credit Union has donated a $500 counterfeit bill checker.

About the size of a small coffee maker, the scanner’s light highlights images and numbers built into legitimate bills while hiding ink usually visible to the eye. Fake bills don’t have the images and will simply appear white or with the wrong markings.

The BPS has also received a $400 to $500 fake credit card detector to combat a newer counterfeit trend.

While he doesn’t know of any fake cards turning up in Brandon, Corley said store employees in other locations are working with organized crime.

They swipe credit cards through a scanner while ringing through a purchase. That swipe takes the information off the victim’s card so it can be transferred to a magnetic strip on a fake.

The BPS reader, however, takes the number off the stripe and displays it on a computer screen so it can be compared to the number embedded on the card itself.

“That gives us a pretty good indication that it’s a legitimate credit card,” Corley said.

As it stands though, Brandonites are more likely to have credit cards intercepted in the mail.

Corley advises businesses with suspect bills to call police at 729-2345.