THREE in every 100 pound coins are FAKE, it emerged yesterday.
The Royal Mint has discovered that about 44 million £1 coins — three per cent of all those currently in circulation — are counterfeit.
Millions of people who spend them or pass them on as change in daily transactions could be breaking the law without even realising it.
Tell-tale signs of fakes include badly-defined edges and a date and design on the reverse which do not match.
The discovery was made during one of the Royal Mint’s six-monthly checks on forged money.
Lord Sassoon, Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, said the number of fake banknotes taken out of circulation last year was about 374,000. Most were £20 notes.