Wellington  - New Zealand shopkeepers are being fleeced by fake 100 dollar bills featuring a sheep wearing a tiara in the place where Queen Elizabeth's portrait should be, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Police said the notes, which all bear the same serial number, were crude forgeries but some merchants in Rodney, near Auckland, where they were circulating, were taken in, the Herald on Sunday reported.

Queen Elizabeth remains head of state of New Zealand, a former British colony, and her tiara-wearing portrait features on all its bank notes. (dpa)