For all local businesses there is a man with a london accent, short light coloured hair giving fake Scottish £50s - very chatty, tips & the hands you a fake 50£ for an item that costs £2.50 & is walking away with quite the windfall.
Take extra care
I’m very sure he has an accomplice too, but for the life of me I can’t remember what he looks like. This is when we first opened way back in March and this same guy was flagged by the bank.
I don’t know if the notes have changed since then, but he uses highlighter pen to imitate the silver strips.
It’s so brazen & im so upset about it. Just don’t want anyone else to make the same mistake we did! So keep an eye out for this one! And yea he’s sort of unremarkable so it’s difficult to describe what he looks like… and the fact he TIPPED too!
When someone hands you a fifty don’t you check it? 
Sorry to hear you’ve been ripped off like this, Sian 
Do you have an image of this chap from CCTV?
Sorry to hear that Sian xx
He sounds like the guy that done it to me a while back, and he even came back about a month later to try it again - second time I told him I don’t take £50 notes as someone gave me a fake one before & added “and it was you” he left sharpish & I’ve never seen him again!
So do be careful incase he comes back x
We won’t be taking 50s from now on
No im afraid not - I’d regonise him tho
I only take £50 notes from regular customers I know after my experience.
Hope you have a busy weekend to make up for it Sian.
See you soon xx
BTW What time do you open tomorrow, if by 9 I’ll pop down for the best bacon sarnie in FH after I open the library at 9. I can enjoy it at home before I open the shop at 10, hope to see you then xx
We open 9 - thanks Pauline busy weekend to you too! #no50s
See you around 9.20/30 then tomorrow xx
Scottish bank notes aren’t legal tender in England, so you’re well within your rights to refuse them if you are in any doubt about their validity. http://edu.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/what-is-legal-tender/
A shop is not obliged to take any bank note - legal tender or not. Although it might the impact your profitability a little 
Reminder to local shops:
Hello all,
So, some interesting activity around Perry Vale over the last couple of weeks with 2 attempts to pass off more ‘‘legal tender’’ in store though a younger man this time with a Northern accent. I believe he’s cycling through staff here until he passes off one of his fake Scottish notes. We’re a small team so he’ll have run out of options by now and may move on to other businesses.
We’ll be contacting the police today with a description of the fraudster to make sure they are aware of his activity in store.
Stay safe, stay vigilante Forest Hill traders!
Clapton Craft Forest Hill.
I often have issues using my left over Northern Irish notes after visiting my family. I usually visit twice a year then there will be a ‘flood’ of them around SE London as I try to spend them locally. But now rather than have a discussion with shop keepers about whether it is legal tender and that NI print their own notes like Scotland I now just save the notes for the Sainburys & Tesco self service machines. No questions asked.
Although i will only ever have 10s or 20s 
However basis the above I fully understand why small local companies have to be aware and alert to scams. Also doesn’t help that there are several banks which can be named on the notes so all and all confusing.
I know many outlets (including us) are happy to accept Northern Irish and Scottish notes so your 10s and 20s are welcome here Sgc. It’s fairly common in the city to see the above notes pass through tills and we’ll happily bank them it’s just on this occasion that the note in question was out right fake and missing a lot of the most simple features you’d expect to find. There are competent forgeries and this one was well, not one of them.
Perhaps a slight tangent but under English / Welsh law you’re under no obligation to accept Scottish or NI banknotes here. The only formal “legal tender” (which is a proper legal technical term, meaning the currency which has to be accepted in settlement of a debt) in England / Wales is a Bank of England note. Shops are, of course, welcome and able to accept other forms of sterling but it’s entirely at their discretion.
Possibly continuing the tangent a bit too far - but when entering into a new transaction, a shop keeper under no obligation to accept any form of banknote at all, irrespective of its legal tender status.
This is how shops are able to go cashless and only accept transactions via card or other contactless options (phones etc…) - which is one way of avoiding in getting caught out by scams such as this.
Aha. The old invitation to treat. Excellent stuff and something I’d quite forgotten.
Hello 
I spoke to someone at se23.life and they said this would be the best place to post about an incident we had today that seems quite similar. We had two women come in and use a slight-of-hand/distraction scam centred around getting change from a £50 note for a small purchase. They managed to take some money from us and also stole some of our stock. I know it’s just petty theft but as we are a small, independent family business and just starting out - it does have some effect. We just wanted to let our neighbours know about the incident so they are aware of it and can avoid it!
Thanks,
Francesca @ Lazy Peach Cafe Bar
Ohh noooo! Hope you reported to the Police. What awful people live in this planet! Let s hope Karma hit them badly!
Yes, we did report to the police - mainly so they are informed of these ongoing scams.
Thank you for the warning- really appreciated. Sorry it happened to you.
Hi Francesca,
Thank you for the heads up, I wonder if they’re connected somehow or if it’s simply a coincidence? Either or, we’re sorry to hear this happened. It’s not to common (in our experience that is), but regardless, as you mentioned it can be damaging to a small business whether that’s £50 or £5 'cause it’s got to come from somewhere.
We’ll keep the team up to date. Thank you for letting us know - stay safe!
Clapton Craft Forest Hill (Ben)
50 pound notes in today on our. We didn’t accept it, they get ungry, I told them we are not accepting this notes. We tried to make a picture to them, but not clear at all the picture. If someone reported to police and have a ref number please post it here then we can rapport too. Be aware £££
Scum!
Now they’re trying to take money from charity shops.
Probably tried to get £45 change for a £5 purchase.
