An Edinburgh bar manager has taken to social media to warn others after finding a fake five pound note in circulation.
Alexandra Barraclough found the scam note when cashing up the tills after a busy shift and took to Facebook to warn others in the Edinburgh area that there are fake notes in circulation.
She pointed out the differences to look for between the real notes and counterfeit versions being used around Edinburgh bars.
The fake blue plastic note appears to have a green tinge around the crown hallmark, the Big Ben hologram will not be reflective and the letters scratch off easily.
Compared to the real one which has a red tinged crown hallmark, a reflective Big Ben hologram and the letters will not scratch off.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live Alexandra said: “Only the one it’s a new phenomenon, the new plastic fivers that were supposedly 'unfakeable'.
“I saw a post about them elsewhere in the UK the other day and took it open myself to check all of our fivers
“It’s usually only the English notes they bother to try and fake but now it’s Scottish too.
The bar manager didn’t report it to Police, she continued: “It was in a previous cash up, no way of determining who had used it and even then no way of proving that the person who used it even knew.
“Unless it was the same Person coming in time and again and you caught them multiple times, there’s nothing you can do.
“All you can do is make people aware.”
Bank of Scotland said: “It is a criminal offence to hold or to pass a banknote which you know to be a counterfeit. If you have a banknote that you believe to be counterfeit, and you are sure who gave you the banknote, you should take it to the police at once for investigation purposes.
“You will be given a receipt for the banknote which will be kept for investigation. If you have no knowledge of who gave you the banknote you are required to take it to any branch of the Bank of Scotland.
“You will be given a receipt for the banknote which will be retained by the branch. You will only be reimbursed for the suspect banknote if it is found to be genuine.”
