Counterfeit notes at an eight-year high: what to check

Counterfeit detections in Australia are running at their highest level in about eight years. The Reserve Bank’s counterfeit statistics record 40,613 counterfeit banknotes detected in the 12 months to March 2026, and about 95 per cent of those were $50 and $100 notes. SmartCompany’s report on the figures covers the part that lands on small business: a cafe owner in Thirroul told it he lost about $250 to fake notes, and nobody reimburses a business that accepts one. The same report cites Australian Border Force detections of counterfeit currency consignments rising from three in 2022 to 700 in 2025-26, with the face value going from about $25,000 to $6.1 million. If any of your takings arrive as cash, this is worth ten minutes of attention.

General information, not tax advice. The ATO is the authority - see ato.gov.au or ask a registered tax or BAS agent.

Know which notes to look at closely

The detections are concentrated in two denominations, so the useful habit is narrow rather than general: the $50 and the $100 are the notes to slow down on.

Australian notes are polymer, which gives you more to check than paper would. The Reserve Bank’s counterfeit detection guidance sets out what to look for, including the clear window and the features that shift when a note is tilted, and the simplest method it describes is comparison: hold the suspect note against one from the same series that you trust. A fake rarely fails every test. It usually fails one, and you only notice if you know which one you are looking at.

The other reason to read that page rather than rely on memory is that the quality has moved. The Border Force has pointed to an improvement in how convincing the notes are, which is also noted in the SmartCompany report. The old advice that a fake feels obviously wrong is less reliable than it was.

Check while the customer is still in front of you

A counterfeit found at close of day is a loss. A counterfeit found at the counter is a conversation. That difference is almost entirely about when the check happens, not how thorough it is.

The pattern described in the SmartCompany report is a large note used for a small purchase, often in a busy shop, often where the light is poor and the person serving is new. So the check matters most at exactly the moment nobody wants to pause: a queue, a market stall at dusk, a job finished on a driveway. Some of the businesses in that report bought ultraviolet note checkers and say a note takes a few seconds to pass under the lamp. For a sole operator, a decent light at the counter and a habit of looking at the window on every $50 and $100 does much of the same work.

Decide what happens when a note looks wrong

It is worth deciding this before it happens, because the moment itself is awkward. Police quoted in the same report say a note can be declined where it feels safe to do so, and the businesses in it make a point of not accusing the customer, since most people passing a fake note have no idea they are holding one. Suspect currency can be reported to police.

Written down, it is three lines: check the note, set it aside rather than into the till if it looks wrong, and offer the customer another way to pay.

Decide how much cash you want coming in at all

Counterfeits are one of several reasons cash costs more to handle than it looks. The choose payment methods page on business.gov.au notes that cash carries a higher risk because it does not go straight into your bank account, and suggests not storing large amounts of it.

Moving a job from cash to bank transfer is not only a payment change, it is an admin change. It means sending a document, agreeing when payment is due, and knowing later whether it arrived. The payment terms page covers stating which methods you accept on your invoices and contracts, which is the part that stops the question being reopened on every job. Plenty of trades and market businesses may want to keep taking some cash, and that is a fair call. The point is choosing the mix rather than inheriting it.

Keep the records either way

Cash that is genuine still has to be recorded, and the ATO’s record-keeping tips cover what that means for a small business: records of all income and sales including cash, cash and card takings reconciled regularly, cash sales banked into the business account, and records kept for five years. If you are registered for GST, the GST on a cash sale is reported the same as on any other sale.

A counterfeit note creates a records problem as well as a loss, because the day’s takings will not reconcile. A short note of what happened, kept with that day’s records along with any police report number, is what explains the gap months later when nobody remembers the afternoon.

Where Apsis fits

Apsis helps with the invoicing side of moving work off cash. Payment terms and your trading name are stored once and printed on every quote and invoice, so the method and the due date are on the document rather than in a conversation. Invoice numbering is sequential with a prefix you choose, and voiding an invoice keeps its number and its record, which matters when takings have to reconcile. The invoice list filters by status and flags overdue rows, so you can see what has not landed without a spreadsheet, and a part-paid status covers the client who pays half now. You can upload a payment receipt against an invoice. On the paid plan, invoice reminders go out for you.