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Some countries have coins that are similar at a glance to those of another country. For example, the American and Canadian one cent coins are both copper-colored and are similar in size; while it does not happen constantly, it's not unheard of to find Canadian cents circulating as American coins, and I would imagine the same thing happens in Canada with US cents. I don't think this is a crime when it happens by mistake, but I imagine it would be if done intentionally.

What crime is committed by a person who deliberately attempts to spend foreign currency or coins as if they were local?

Someone
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1 Answers1

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Fraud

American cent coins are worth 0.01 USD. Canadian cent coins are worth (today) 0.0074 USD due to the exchange of 1 Canadian dollar being worth 0.74 USD.

With the intent to get more for less, this is clearly fraud.

Without intent (accidentally grabbing the wrong coin) would not meet the mens rea requirement.

Trish
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