False encouragement given on debts (8)

I believe the answer is:

spurious

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'false' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'encouragement given on debts' is the wordplay.
'encouragement' becomes 'spur' (spur is a kind of encouragement).
'given on debts' becomes 'ious' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'spur'+'ious'='SPURIOUS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for spurious that I've seen before include "deceitful!" , "False, fake" , "Bogus" , "Artificial and phoney" , "Not genuine or authentic" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail and The Guardian.

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