Fake pound coins - hypothetical question

AHAR

Hi,
Let's say I use a change machine to exchange a tenner for 10 pound coins and one or more of them is a fake.
Since you can't reject the fakes on the spot, what legal recourse is a available in such a situation?
What would it take to land the operator of the machine in trouble? An independent witness to verify that the fakes came from the machine?
Just curious, that's all.
Thanks

shaun_from_Africa

possessing or passing fake coins isn't illegal.
You need to knowingly do so before you've committed any offence, so simply getting a dodgy coin from the change machine wouldn't be enough to get the operator into any strife,

Did you see "Fake Britain" on BBC a couple of weeks ago?
The presenter took out £1000 in £1 coins from 5 different banks, and there was an average of 40 fake coins in each batch.
If the banks pass fake coins, what chance is there for the everyday man in the street?

pinkshoes

I would put them back in the machine and exchange them for 10p coins. If the machine dished them out, then they must suck them back in!

shaun_from_Africa

The problem is pink, the coins were probably just loaded into the machine by someone tipping a few bags into the coin reservoir so they wouldn't have been weighed or tested by the coin mechanism.
However, when attempting to put the fake back in, it will probably be rejected by the machine.

james2012_2

When I worked for Asda we put £1 coins in a machine to get cash on a card to buy snacks in the canteen.

It was very good at detecting fake £1 coins but all we did was get the customer service collegue to change them for us.

Don't know what happened to them after that, perhaps the thieving scum/customers who returned stolen goods for cash got them. JUST KIDDING!

redped

Slightly off topic, am I the only one who thinks it would be easier to spot a fake pound coin if we didn't have so many different designs? Looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_pound_(British_coin) it seems there's a new design every year, so someone could make a fake with a picture of Mickey Mouse on it and a lot of people would just assume it's the latest design.

bris

I get fake pound coins direct from the bank when I order change on a regular basis, they are in sealed bags, and yes the banks do know they are passing them back into circulation. If they don't care then why should we.

T_T_2

AHAR wrote: »

Hi,

What would it take to land the operator of the machine in trouble? An independent witness to verify that the fakes came from the machine?
Just curious, that's all.
Thanks

In my experience, people rarely ask hypothetical questions for hypothetical reasons. So hypothetically, why would you be expecting to land someone else or yourself in trouble?

mrbadexample

The easiest way to spot them is to look at the writing around the edge. It's rarely well-done on a fake.

I like to give them back to the shop when I get given them in change. "Sorry mate, that one's snide. Can I have a real one instead please?" Then you get looked at like you're some kind of freak.

maninthestreet

Surely £1 coins need to be re-designed to make forgeries of them more difficult? There doesn't seem to be a problem with fake £2 coins, presumably due to their bi-metal composition.

bris

They are easy to spot as they start to turn black and tarnish very easy.