A new fake Toonie has emerged in Quebec, Ontario: Here’s how you spot it

Toronto ( Global News): An arrest and huge seizure of 26,000 allegedly counterfeit $2 coins in Quebec, and a second smaller seizure of the same dodgy coins in a northern Ontario city a few months later, suggests that a new counterfeit toonie variety is circulating across Canada, a coin expert says.

Global News learned about a new variety of fake toonie while researching the case of the Quebec man who is facing criminal charges for an alleged attempt to import more than 26,000 dodgy toonies from a coin maker in China, paying a nickel a piece for them, plus shipping, court records state.

A Canada Border Services Agency customs officer seized 12,000 alleged fake toonies at a FedEx warehouse at the Montreal-Mirabel International Airport in January.

CBSA investigators later found another 14,000 when they raided the home of the suspect in that case, Jean-Francois Généreux, from Sorel, Que., about 70 kilometres from Montreal.

Last week, the CBSA shared with Global News, for the first time, some digital photos of the 26,000 seized $2 coins that were allegedly ordered from China and circulated in Quebec.

At the same time, police in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., confirmed that they arrested a local person who had a smaller number of the same counterfeit coins in their possession in March, and seized 15 coins.

Counterfeit Canadian coin expert Mike Marshall of Trenton, Ont., who examined images of both sets of seized coins for Global News, said they appear to come from the same manufacturer.

Both the Quebec and Ontario fake coins are stamped 2012.

They both appear to have the same differences that allow experts like Marshall to spot them as counterfeits when compared with authentic $2 coins of that same year.

Marshall said the new $2 fake coins do look real at first glance, but the counterfeits have several distinguishing features that ordinary consumers can spot, including:

The Queen’s nose is too sharp and long on the fake coin’s head side.
Above the Queen’s head, a maple leaf-shaped security feature appears on the fake coin that does not appear on genuine toonies from 2012.

On the polar bear side of the fake coin, a “$” symbol appears between two maple leaf-shaped security features. On the real coin, the numeral “2” actually appears in that spot.
Also on the polar bear side, on the right side near the bear’s head, the word “CANADA” appears on the fake coin. On the real coin, the word “DOLLAR” appears in that space.
Lastly, the “2012” year on a real toonie appears in a straight line, while the same numbers appear on a curve or slight arc on the counterfeit coins.