Tricks about using banknotes in China

[muyongshi]

Of course there are the times when somebody tells you it's fake and it's really not. Happened to me once in a 互惠 and I was upset but gave them a different hundred anyway and the next day used it without a problem...

[heifeng]

I've only received a fake 20, which I described in the "Tea and other scams" thread and went back and confronted them on my way home in the evening ( apparently they sensed my built up anger cuz they exchanged the 20 for 2 real tens..but my Chinese friends said last time they tried something like this they almost got into a fight with the shop attendant...so its not a fully recommended tactic). Anyway, I try not to use 100 notes in smaller stores and cabs if it can be avoided and I am always extra weary if the staff suddenly takes a long time trying to give me change b/c I'm convinced they are reaching for the fake money stash they've accumulated ...now vendors just have to wait for me to count out all the 'jiao' twice before I break a 100. Also I discovered the longer you take to count your money the more likely they are just to give you a discount of a few jiao or even yuan...heheh

Oh, one more thing, I usually ask for smaller denominations instead of getting a 50 back when I break a 100 just in case and will at least glance at my 20's and 10's just to see if anything looks fishy. ( the fake 20 I received wasn't even that good of a counterfeit, the color was pretty faded, so it's at least worth a glance at all your change)

[gougou]

Also I will glance at my 20's and 10's just to see if anything looks fishy.

Then again, very few people will check those. If I ever had one, I have passed it on unknowingly.

[heifeng]

Then again, very few people will check those. If I ever had one, I have passed it on unknowingly.

True, I also didn't realize I had a fake and tried to use it but that shopkeeper spotted it and told me it was a fake...and then I knew!

[zozzen]

Personally I'd rather take the very small risk of an attempted scam and deal with it then than do that. Zozzen, how often have you been hit by this, in how many years in China? Maybe it is a lot more common in some areas, I don't know.

Crimes and scams of any types actually rarely happen in our life. If you don't lock up the room, you probably won't experience any burglary in most of time even in China. Then it's only a question about how much risk you want to take and whether or not you're willing to shift the loss to other victims.

[anonymoose]

Interesting thread. I have a couple of the old series (1990 if I remember correctly) 10 yuan banknotes back in the UK.

The last time I looked at them, I noticed they were slightly different, as far as the colour and clarity of the print goes, and it made me wonder whether one is a fake. Also the watermark on one is stronger than the other. The thing is, I'm not sure how much variance in colour there is between genuine banknotes - I know the current ones are pretty consistent, but I'm not sure that the old series were as uniform, especially when comparing jiao and fen notes which seem to vary in colour quite a lot.

Anyway, both of those 10 yuan notes are very good, so if one is a fake, it has been made very well. Are there any ways I can check for sure?

[here2learn]

Someone said they haven't seen anyone check money as much as in China. I'm not saying that's not true, and I might agree, but in the US lots of places do it. Nearly every cash register has one of those weird brown markers and the cashiers will swipe it across real quick to check the bills as they take them.

[cdn_in_bj]

So how would remembering the last few digits help in a taxi cab? Would you ask the driver to pull out all his money and check the last four digits on each?

Actually, rather than reading out the digits prior to handing over the 100 bill, it doesn't hurt to just memorize them and if the driver does try to pull a switch on you, I think you will have a good chance of changing his mind if you read them back to him (he'll know that you know for certain that he's pulled a switch on you). If that doesn't work, you can also "suggest" to call the police and/or the taxi company to help "settle the confusion". Contrary to how it might seem, customer complaints do get tracked by the taxi companies here and the drivers know it. And it also helps that the 08 Olympic Games are fast approaching...

That said, I have yet to knowingly receive any fake bills. If you're worried about this you can buy a cheap LED blacklight. You can use it to check money as well as concert tickets, although maybe they've figured out a way to fake the UV watermark too and if so this will only give a false sense of security.

[mr.stinky]

hooray, got a fake 100'er today. well, actually a friend got in in payment, and i offered to

buy it from her. it's a big chunk of her paycheck, and anyway makes a nice $14 souvenir.

for anyone interested, here's a few things that stand out in comparison with the genuine

article:

mr. mao's jacket is unrippled. don't know why not, as they were able to make the the

braille effect on the stripes on the right edge (although not raised as much as on real bills).

on a real bill, the black stripe seems to be a colored tape seen through the paper.

the back side of the tape has the holographic 100's, and show up every few cm on the

back. held up to the light the stripe and the holographs perfectly overlap.

the dark stripe on the fake is much darker, doesn't need to be held to the light to see

clearly. the 100's on the back are not as clear, and don't perfectly overlap.

on a real bill, the mr. mao watermark can be seen clearly from both sides. on the fake,

it's much clearer from the front, and when held at an angle, can see where it was

embossed.

the second "100" watermark below the serial number was left off this fake.

the "googley-eyes" on the right rear seem to have the pupils pointed in different

directions that the real eyeballs (but i've only got one real bill to compare with,

maybe they're all random?)

[gato]

http://www.yz183.com/guanggao/%D3%CA%D5%FE%B4%A2%D0%EE.htm

教 您 识 别 真 假 人 民 币

google translated:

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yz183.com%2Fguanggao%2F%25D3%25CA%25D5%25FE%25B4%25A2%25D0%25EE.htm&langpair=zh%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8

Teach you to distinguish genuine and fake RMB

[roddy]

Is there a current flood of fake RMB in Beijing or something? In the week I've been back I've noticed that everyone is much more careful about checking notes than they used to - previously 100s would get a perfunctory look, now it seems like every note gets subjected to scrutiny.

[chinesecanuck]

quick question, do most of places take creditcard like American express or Mastercard? then no more worry about banknotes. or even consider use debit card as frequently as possible, of course then you have to worry about PIN.

[imron]

Most places don't take Mastercard or Visa. More places take it than several years ago, but mostly it's only in more upscale, expensive places that cater to foreign clients.

[HashiriKata]

quick question, do most of places take creditcard like American express or Mastercard? then no more worry about banknotes.

I think the banknotes you get from all the cash machines should be safe, too.

[gougou]

That's what I thought, but apparently that's not the case. I guess it's a convenient method for a cashier that accidentally accepted fake money to prevent the amount to be subtracted from his/her monthly salary...

[liuzhou]

I think the banknotes you get from all the cash machines should be safe, too.

Should be, yes.

Will be? Not always. I've had fakes, as have friends. In different parts of China.

[roddy]

But in return, I got one of the most useful trick in China now. When i shared this story with a shopkeeper, she told me a trick---- read a few digit of banknote's number aloud before you give it to anyone. This proved to be efficient at solving some everyday unnecessary problems.

Never had this happen before, but the waitress at dinner told me the last three digits of my 100Y note's serial number before taking it off. Guess they must have had problems with forgeries.

[flameproof]

I had it that a RMB50 note was returned to me as "jiade". At that time I wasn't sure that this was the one I gave to them. Now, every time I hand out a note I check it - and I make sure people see it while I check it. No problem since.