A man has just been charged with a series of offenses at the Sorel courthouse, in connection with a record seizure of counterfeit $2 coins imported from China
The Press revealed in July that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) had made the record seizure as part of an investigation concerning Jean-François Généreux, an importer from Sorel who claimed to obtain counterfeit currency from Chinese producers for simple pleasure.
The investigation was initiated in January 2023 after the interception of 12,000 counterfeit $2 coins in a postal package arriving from China. During a search of Mr. Généreux’s home, the authorities seized 14,600 additional false documents.
On Monday morning, the CBSA confirmed that charges under the Criminal Code and the Customs Act were brought against the suspect in this investigation for having purchased, imported and possessed counterfeit currency, and having given false information in a customs declaration. Jean-François Généreux will appear in court on December 4.
Our report showed that Mr. Généreux’s supplier was indeed offering $2 CAD coins at low prices, in huge quantities on the Chinese online sales site Alibaba. The seller’s page displayed several comments from Canadian customers who had ordered tens of thousands of these parts recently.
Asked by The PressAlibaba management immediately closed the supplier’s page.
“We immediately conducted a thorough verification of the seller and blocked the product listing and the seller in question from Alibaba.com. We will impose penalties on the seller after the conclusion of our investigation,” assured a spokesperson.
Numismatic experts have raised the alarm in recent years about the growing circulation of counterfeit Canadian coins made in China.
Seizures of counterfeit parts have actually been increasing steadily for five years, according to figures from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. But counterfeiting remains “extremely rare,” according to the Royal Canadian Mint.