High quality fake $100 notes fool Sydney residents, businesses and banks Counterfeit $100 notes are being found on the streets of Sydney. Picture: Thinkstock Source: The Daily Telegraph Tama Makiiti withdrew what turned out to be counterfeit $100 notes from an ATM. SYDNEY has been flooded with counterfeit cash that is of such high quality some banks are struggling to detect it. In the past two months, organised crime gangs have caused a "significant spike" in the amount of fake currency - mainly $50 and $100 notes - passed in restaurants, bars and fast food outlets, particularly in Sydney's west. Police are unable to estimate how much of the cash is on the streets. Just two weeks ago they charged a Comanchero bikie with being in possession of $520,000 in "funny money." Businesses in Fairfield, Mt Druitt and Penrith have all detected fake notes, mainly $100 bills. It is also unknowingly being passed around by banks. Tama Makiiti recently withdrew $1200 from a Commonwealth Bank branch in Surry Hills to pay his rent. His landlord Shane Woseley then tried to pay it into his own account. "It wasn't until I went to deposit the money in the ANZ at Marrickville that I found one of the $100s was counterfeit," Mr Woseley said. The teller counted the money and said nothing. She flicked through the notes again and spotted something wrong. Police warned the high quality of the banknotes meant they were difficult to detect. They have been coated in a plastic resin to make them have a feel similar to a real note. They are pretty good," a police spokesman said. In the past, $50 notes were the most popular but we are seeing an increasing number of $100. It is not yet known if there is any connection between the current counterfeits and the wave of fake $50 notes that were circulated in the Lake Macquarie area at Christmas. All discoveries of forged money are handed to the Reserve Bank and Australian Federal Police to investigate. Despite government assurances that counterfeiting is a minor problem in Australia, local and international crime syndicates are known to have been involved in its production on a mass scale. "Our currency is recognised as one of the hardest to counterfeit," a Reserve Bank spokesman said. On average there are about eight counterfeit notes found for every million in circulation which by world standards is quite low. That figure doubled two years ago when an international counterfeit racket was detected by NSW Police, the AFP and the US Secret Service. Five men were arrested in Sydney. An Australian was also held in the US, allegedly in possession of 7700 notes with a face value of nearly $400,000. In 2006, a plot to circulate $5 million worth of fake $100 notes was uncovered by the AFP, the government of Colombia and the US Secret Service.