A wrong report by a TV station in Toronto regarding a fake toonies make everyone searching for information about it. A news reported by CBC News stated that the station reported Tuesday that it had obtained a couple of counterfeit two-dollar coins following a tip from a downtown Toronto merchant who said he "gets them by the truckload."A comparison of a 2008 two-dollar coin, left, and a coin from 1996 reveals a redesigned effigy of the Queen that is larger than the one featured on the older coin.
The next day the Royal Canadian Mint had issued the following statement:
Since 1996, Canadian two-dollar circulation coins have been produced with two different images of the Queen: a smaller crowned portrait (from 1996 to 2002) and a larger uncrowned portrait introduced in 2003 to update the image of Her Majesty on all Canadian coinage.This last effigy has appeared on all Canadian circulation coins (one-cent, five-cent, 10-cent, 25-cent, 50-cent, one-dollar and two-dollar denominations) produced since June 2003. All circulation coins bearing these effigies are genuine and are to be accepted as legal tender in Canada.If, for any other reason, there is suspicion of a non-genuine coin, Canadians are encouraged to contact their local law enforcement authorities.
The first-ever incident of known toonie counterfeiting took place in 2006, when the RCMP and Quebec police broke up a counterfeiting ring near Montreal that was manufacturing high-quality loonies and toonies.
As reported in the CBC News; Alex Reeves Royal Canadian Mint spokesman said the mint encounters fake Canadian coins "very rarely." Attempts to counterfeit Canadian currency traditionally focus on banknotes, where the payoff for the counterfeiter is much greater.
Preliminary figures for 2009 show that about 70,000 counterfeit bills were passed or seized in Canada last year. The most common counterfeit was the $100 bill (27,061), followed closely by the $20 note (25,776). The RCMP says more fake bills were seized in British Columbia last year than in any other province (21,259). An RCMP raid on a Surrey, B.C., home in May 2009 turned up $130,000 in fake Canadian bills.
In the last few years, the Bank of Canada has brought in a series of new security features for all Canadian banknotes — like holographic stripes, raised ink and watermarks — that have made it more difficult to pass fake bills. RCMP stats show the number of fake banknotes passed or seized has generally declined since 2004, when 650,000 phony notes were found.
Look like not only Malaysian who don't know their money very well. Its funny when a TV station doesn't do their research before release the news on air. For me. this is most probably a way to gain popularity for the TV. Since Toonies and Loonies will be change to a new metal next year, everyone want to make sure they can get a piece of it. By the way, that is a very good record on counterfeiting. The only news I can find about Toonies and Loonies counterfeiting is in 2006.
Source: CBC News, Royal Canadian Mint.
