A clever forger has been passing off faked €10 and €20 notes for months without being caught.
The 65-year-old – already known to police and with a conviction for forgery that was never followed through – took great care not to draw attention to himself, reports the nation’s best read tabloid.
He dressed to look “much older”, donned thick glasses and feigned a limp.
He also claimed RSI (state benefit for the seriously poor).
The forging was “to help him live better”, explains Correio da Manhã – and the man laundered his notes by purchasing items at fairs and gypsy markets, and receiving the change (in ‘clean’ money) in return.
But the ruse finally caught up with him in Maia, at the Feira de Pedras Rubras.
PJ police caught him ‘red-handed’ paying with one of his forged notes – later discovering as many as 300 other faked notes in the man’s home.
As the serial forger is now due to appear once again before magistrates, CM says the case is not closed. Porto PJ inspectors are now going to “try and find out how many notes, in total” the man managed to pass off as real.
