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Stornoway, Lewis
Counterfeit money scare was false alarm 13/8/11
Northern Constabulary has now confirmed that all suspected counterfeit notes from Stornoway, which were sent off for analysis, have now been verified as genuine notes.
In May, a number of businesses in both Lewis and Uist were left out of pocket when island banks rejected takings from local businesses saying suspect notes were fake.
Some people disposed of supposedly dud cash the banks warned them to keep out of circulation.
A number of shops and pubs invested in ultra-
Banks doubled up their checks and and told a number of business that their takings contained dud £10 and £20 notes.
The counterfeit scare hit Stornoway before spreading to Uist as police and the Comhairle warned businesses the islands were being targeted.
But an initial sample of the small quantity of notes handed in to the police were tested by the Serious Organised Crime Agency and found to be OK.
Now every single banknote analysed has been verified as genuine says Northern Constabulary .
Western Isles Area Inspector Robbie MacDonald said: "When local police were made aware that a quantity of notes were being refused by banks in the Western Isles, as they believed them to be counterfeit, we issued warnings to the public and requested any incidents were reported to ourselves at Northern Constabulary.
"A relatively small number of notes were handed in to us and we liaised with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), who are able to authenticate currency.
“To date, all the notes we dealt with through SOCA have been found to be genuine and they will be returned to the complainers.”