CONSUMERS and businesses alike are advised to be on the lookout for fake £1 coins in circulation around Llandrindod, after a spate of forged coins appearing in the past fortnight.
Anyone who receives or believes they may have received counterfeit coinage is advised to take it to the police.
According to the Royal Mint, consumers should watch out for coins where the date and design on the reverse do not match, as the reverse design is changed each year. A list of designs and dates is available at www.royalmint.com.
Other giveaways include: the lettering or inscription on the edge of the coin does not correspond to the right year.
The milled edge is poorly defined and the lettering is uneven in depth, spacing or is poorly formed. The designs on either side of the coin are not as sharp or well defined as genuine coins.
Where the coin should have been in circulation for some time, the colouring appears more shiny and golden, and the coin shows no sign of age.
The colour of the coin does not match genuine coins.
Although one in 50 pound coins in circulation at any one time is counterfeit, the numbers around Llandrindod appear to have increased in recent weeks, with the Post Office spotting several on the past two market Fridays.