Paper money counterfeiters are creating havoc in Hong Kong and officials are trying to alert the public to the situation.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is continuing its efforts to warn citizens and businesses about the counterfeit Series 2003 HK$1,000 notes turning up in circulation.

Hong Kong police have confiscated 60 counterfeit HK$1,000 notes with the designs for the 2003 Bank of China Hong Kong Ltd. and 2003 Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. designs since Dec. 23, 2013.

As a result of the seizures, the HKMA required cash deposit machines at banks to be examined and recalibrated to enhance their ability to detect the counterfeit note.

The HKMA website, www.hkma.gov, offers information about how to identify the fake notes.

The Chinese government, through the HKMA, authorizes three commercial banks to issue currency notes in Hong Kong: The HSBC, the Bank of China and the Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd. Note designs for each of the Hong Kong banks is different.

No fake $1,000 Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) notes have been reported.

In 2010, the HKMA began to replace the old series of bank notes with a new series having easy-to-recognize security features. The HKMA has asked banks to speed up the process of withdrawing the 2003 series HK$1,000 bank notes from circulation. ¦