Police are warning traders and the public to be aware and to look carefully at Tongan pa‘anga notes, after three counterfeit $50 pa'anga notes were discovered in Nuku‘alofa last week.

The Acting Police Commissioner ‘Unga Fa’aoa said they received the first complaint of a $50 counterfeit note from a Chinese shop on Vaha’akolo Road in Havelu, on January 18.

He said the shopkeeper reported a woman had come in and tried to use the counterfeit note and when she was confronted she ran off. Police were still looking for her.

In a separate incident at a Tongan shop in Kolomotu'a police had arrested a man in possession of another $50 counterfeit on January 31. He has been charged with possession and use of counterfeit money and remains in custody.

Meanwhile, the National Reserve Bank of Tonga had also reported they found a $50 pa’anga counterfeit note last week.

A police investigation was underway to determine the origin of the counterfeit notes and to track down offenders. The contact number is 922, said the Acting Police Commissioner.