Downtown merchants are on the lookout for counterfeit gift certificates.

Downtown Lawrence Inc. has been notifying its members about a counterfeit pair of $50 gift certificates recently redeemed downtown, said Maria Martin, director.

The fake certificates were made to look like those issued by Downtown Lawrence. Martin declined to identify the two restaurants, but said the certificates were redeemed in mid-June.

She said the fraud was discovered by Douglas County Bank, the bank that oversees the gift certificate program.

“They’re good counterfeits, but if our members inform their staffs of one or two things to look for, we think everything will be fine,” Martin said.

Downtown Lawrence Inc. recently began distributing copies of both authentic gift certificates and counterfeit ones so businesses could be aware of the differences.

Martin said the organization alerted the Lawrence Police Department to the fraud, but said there were no leads in the case.

A police department official said businesses should be cautious in dealing with any suspected counterfeiter, and to notify police.

“Basically, we always want people to be good witnesses and get as much information as they can,” Sgt. Daniel Ward said. “But we don’t want anybody to do anything to jeopardize themselves or escalate the situation to violence.”

He said he was not surprised counterfeiters had produced fake certificates.

“The computer age has definitely made it easier to do,” Ward said. “We’re seeing a lot more check counterfeits, so it makes sense that gift certificates would be next.”