THE cashier knew something was wrong the moment she handled the notes.

They felt different to the touch.

They also looked too thick, and some of the parts of the edges were jagged.

So the cashier, who works part-time at the Toys R Us outlet at VivoCity, alerted her manager.

She was right.

The $100 bill was a fake.

A shopper, a South Korean student, had tried to use it and another genuine $100 Singapore bill to pay for merchandise at the toy store.

He had gone on a shopping spree at the store with a friend, a China student, yesterday.

The toy company's security consultant, Mr Davy Chan, 61, said the students were 16 years old and were there before 1pm.

They ran up a bill of $205 for toys which included Spiderman and Batman action figures, toy cars, and a Rubik's cube.

Mr Chan, a former policeman who has been with Toys R Us for 15 years, said the store manager contacted him after the cashier raised the alert.

He said: 'I told them to detain them, then to call the police.'

The manager allegedly found two more fake $100 bills in a white envelope in the South Korean's bag.

Mr Chan said the China student told him they were studying at an international school here and were told by their teacher to buy items for a project.

He claimed he knew nothing of the fake notes.

COMPUTER GENERATED

But the South Korean allegedly admitted to Mr Chan to using his laptop and a colour printer to print the fake note.

Mr Chan said the student told him he had glued the pieces of paper together.

A police spokesman told The New Paper the South Korean student was arrested for allegedly using the counterfeit note as a real one and investigations were ongoing.

Said Mr Chan: 'The store manager said this was the first time it has happened to the company.'

According to police statistics provided yesterday, the number of reported cases involving fake notes fell last year.

In 2005, there were 10 cases. The number doubled to 20 in 2006.

But last year, there were only two reported cases.

The spokesman advised members of the public who suspect that they have or may have received counterfeit currency notes to retain the notes and report to the police immediately.

Yesterday's case was not the first time youths have been caught using fake notes.

In July 2006, an 18-year-old girl pleaded guilty to 16 charges of using fake notes to cheat people.

She had used them to pay taxi fares and was sentenced to two years' probation and ordered to do 240 hours of community service.

In Oct 2002, an 18-year-old youth was sentenced to 9 1/2 years jail and given five strokes of the cane for using fake notes to cheat taxi drivers and also for trafficking in Ecstasy pills and other drug offences.

Anyone convicted of using fake notes can be jailed up to 20 years and fined.