Today, Bosun's Locker Chandlery, on Church Street was subject to an attempt to exchange a fake fifty-pound note.

They were described as an "Irish Gang" by Alan Parmenter, who works at Bosuns Locker.

Alan Parmenter posted this afternoon, on community page Your Falmouth High Street, he stated: "Be aware that the Irish Gang trying to pass off fifty-pound notes are in Falmouth."

The St Agnes Hotel and The Beach Shop in Porthtowen have also been subject to an exchange of the notes.

Jerry, Landlord at The St Agnes Hotel, posted: "Just a quick word of warning to all the businesses in and around St. Agnes and the rest of Cornwall. If it wasn't for the vigilance of one of my wonderful staff, we would have fallen foul to a guy who is trying to pass over fake fifty-pound notes by buying small amounts then pocketing the change.

"The notes are good, even passed the post office UV check but when you look at the watermark it looks like a cartoon than the actual Queen's head."

He added: "So be aware, and if spotted phone the police as this is obviously an organised crime rather than a one-off man passing over a fake note."

It has been discussed on the page that shop owners and staff may well start to use the Falmouth Highstreet Zello Channel. Zello is an app that allows channels to be set up so shop owners can communicate with each other, to alert traders of potential incidents such as counterfeit notes.

The idea was mentioned by Mark Peters, a member of the community Facebook group. As a way to work together to prevent future incidents.

Andrew Collins Smith posted on the community page about the counterfeit notes in Porthtowen: "A group of Irish men went into the Beach Shop today and handed over a fake fifty-pound note.

"My sister chased them down and managed to get her money back but not until after an unpleasant confrontation and several threats to her business."

Devon and Cornwall Police have been contacted about the incident.

If you have any more information or want to report a counterfeit note, call 101. Or click the button below.