More than 2,700 fake $100 banknotes were found in the first two months of this year, three times the number detected in the first quarter of last year.
Police said most of the notes had been made with ink-jet printers. Many were quite sophisticated, with fluorescent denomination blocks visible under ultraviolet light.
The Commercial Crime Bureau said the total number of fake $100 notes found last year dropped 14.6 per cent from 2000 to 8,391.
But a sharp surge was seen in the last quarter of 2001 when 5,479 fake $100 notes were found - about 17 times the figure of 309 detected in the same period of 2000.
The increase continued into the first two months this year, when 2,792 fake $100 notes were found - more than triple the 869 found in the first quarter last year.
Police said the first batch of fake banknotes with fluorescent marks was found in the last quarter of 2001, with about 25 per cent of the counterfeit bills carrying the feature.
Half of the fake $100 notes found this year carried the fluorescent marks.