I mean you can't laser print bank notes either, not just because of the EURion constellation [1], but because they look and feel literally nothing like bank notes. I honestly never understood the imeptus.
Now, the only person dumber than a criminal who would think to try this is a store clerk who would accept these. So it is not an effective crime, unless the effect you want is "jail, quickly". But it is nonetheless a real crime.
Not always - it'll often be safer just to accept the "money" and contact the police directly afterwards.