Fake £50 notes warning in South Norfolk

Shop owners and businesses have been urged to be on their guard after buyers tried to use fake £50 notes to pay for goods.

Police in South Norfolk Tweeted the warning to firms that counterfeit Scottish bank notes were in circulation after a man tried to use one on November 22 in a Tesco store on the A140.

PC Jim Squires, of South Norfolk Police, said: 'Yesterday afternoon at Tesco's Harford Bridge, a male entered the store and also the petrol station and tried to buy low value items with Scottish £50 notes. Staff were concerned that they were fake and refused the sales.'

The warning comes days after Thetford Garden Centre revealed fraudsters had paid for goods with counterfeit notes and tricked staff into handing over more cash.

Two men came went into the store both buying goods with counterfeit notes, before swapping the change with more fake notes, costing the store £130.

Last month the Bank of England confirmed England's highest value banknote will in future printed on the same polymer as the £5 and £10 notes in an effort to make them 'more secure'.