Counterfeit bills have surfaced at Los Angeles high schools in recent months, and officials suspect enterprising students are printing the fake money on home computers and spending it in campus cafeterias, a newspaper reported on Monday.

The Daily News of Los Angeles - a suburban newspaper - said thousands of dollars in phoney $5 (€4.84), $10 and $20 bills have turned up at Los Angeles Unified School District campuses, fooling cafeteria and bookstore workers who are not trained to spot them.

"It's an easy way to launder money," Mr Don Mullinax, an investigator for the school district, told the newspaper. A student uses a fake $20 bill to buy a candy bar and comes away with $19 that are clean. They can then use that real money on the street."

Mr Mullinax said investigators believe students are using home computers and colour copiers to make the bogus bills.