Students at one of Sydney’s most expensive private schools have been caught on camera using counterfeit $50 notes to try to swindle an eastern suburbs newsstand out of $100.
Despite initially getting away with the alleged crime at the Double Bay news agency, a $40,000-a-year Scots College student returned just two days later to attempt the same scam again. Daily Telegraph reported
The original alleged fraud video shows three students at the news agency counter while one buys a pen. A second student in a blue shirt asks to exchange four $50 bills for two $100 bills and looks nervous as he fumbles in his wallet for cash.
Store manager Jim Cho said: “He gave a bunch of $50 bills and put the two fakes with two real ones.”
Another student that Mr. Cho, who believes he was from the original group, returned two days later to allegedly take even more money from the small business, but he could see that the bills were smaller than normal size and originally knew they were fake.
Mr Cho then did some detective work on Double Bay, printed out photos of the suspects and posted CCTV footage on YouTube and soon had a great idea that the students were from the exclusive school in a suburb of Bellevue Hill.
He contacted the school. He said teachers from the school turned up at the shop and tried to downplay the incident, but Mr Cho was adamant he would press charges with the police.
In a statement, Scots College principal Ian Lambert said: “The business owner has been contacted and has been refunded in full.”
“The college is co-operating with NSW Police and will continue to counsel the student and work with his parents until the incident is fully resolved,” he said.
“The College takes the situation very seriously and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken once all the facts have been determined.”
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