We all know Guangzhou is notorious for its counterfiet bills, but now the trend seems to be spreading to Shanghai. And, since foreigners are the prime targets, you guys should take note.

Taxi drivers are the main culprits and 50s are the most counterfieted. One of my (Japanese) flight attendant friends has been scammed 6 times during the past 8 months (pay with 100; get back a crap 50).

On a semi-related note, for those of you that perfer Jiaotong cards to cash, some drivers have also grown fond of switching good cards for worthless ones on the sly.

Moral to story: try to use exact change OR watch closely if you pay by card.

On a semi-related note, for those of you that perfer Jiaotong cards to cash, some drivers have also grown fond of switching good cards for worthless ones on the sly.

.

I noticed in the Shanghai taxi a sign ... if the driver will not accept
the Shanghai Public Transportation Card...you do not have to pay. So
twice the drivers said .. I already canceled out the meter so I can only accept cash. I didn't want to pay...but my Chinese friend said you must pay or you will
loose face. What's up with that!

[QUOTE=moondog]We all know Guangzhou is notorious for its counterfiet bills, but now the trend seems to be spreading to Shanghai.[QUOTE]

Thanks for warning.

Much more this trip than before, in the region in and around Shanghai, EVERY time I passed a 100 yuan note, the merchant looked at like a Secret Service agent.

As reported above, many Shanghai taxis has the signs that the driver must accept the cash card.

This is weird because I can see lots of hard-to-counterfeit security devices in the 100 yuan note, which is only worth about $12.40 U.S.

As reported above, many Shanghai taxis has the signs that the driver must accept the cash card.




I jokingly told my friend I bought the taxi card at XY market for 100 RMB and it had 500 rmb in time on it. Wonder if you can buy them at XY market...they got about everything else there? :D

I just got a couple of money tester pens, that are widely used in Germany.
If the paper is real, the light yellow mark with this pens fades. If on fake paper, it turns dark. I have a friend working in a bank in China and will test it on fake bills there tomorrow. What I already do know is that on real RMB bills it works fine.
Since it is very unlikely that they use real paper faking money in China. So the test should be pretty accurate.
Anybody interested in the result, please pm me.

I just got a couple of money tester pens, that are widely used in Germany.
If the paper is real, the light yellow mark with this pens fades. If on fake paper, it turns dark. I have a friend working in a bank in China and will test it on fake bills there tomorrow. What I already do know is that on real RMB bills it works fine.
Since it is very unlikely that they use real paper faking money in China. So the test should be pretty accurate.
Anybody interested in the result, please pm me.

HKtraveller, any reason why you wouldn't share the result with all of us FTers? Incidentally, where might we get a money tester pen in the states? Thanks

Incidentally, where might we get a money tester pen in the states? Thanks

You can get them at Office Depot, Staples, and the like, for $7.99 or so. They don't work for all currencies, though.

I don't want to publish anything before it is sure that it works. I have no clue where you get them in the US. I do know that they don't work for money that is not on textile paper basis, like Australian Dollars or the 50 Thai Baht bill.
As soon as I get all information I will post it.

After testing the money-tester-pen in China, the result is:
It is working on counterfeit money on fake paper, but out of all the bills we tested, there was one 50 RMB bill on which it didn't work, most likely because they used money-paper on textile basis. I got this bill on hand and will send it to the German representative of the money pen producer, to see what can be done about this.
Furthermore will I ask for the sales representatives in the US.

So using this pen is no guarantee, but a high percentage can be detected.
The undetectable bill was still easy to recognize as a fake. The watermark was yellowish on the surface, not inside the paper.
But hard to see at night in a taxi.

Keep small change for the taxis and bars, or where possible, use the transportation card instead of cash!

Always use the transit cards if you possibly can, and as noted, never take back 50s, which are indeed becoming the counterfeit of choice; the locals have warned me they won't touch them (which is how I was alerted to the scope of the problem).

I have seen a few times when the cards don't work well, but it's very rare.

how to not accept the change you are given? insist on smaller denominations?

how to not accept the change you are given? insist on smaller denominations?

I wouldn't try to force this issue because both 100s and 50s are inconvenient for cabbies so it's not unreasonable to allow them to exchange one inconvenience for another (v. sucking up 8 y10 notes from their change stash).

In other words, in cases where you don't have small bills or a Jiaotong card handy, I think it's bad manners not to accept the (small) risk of getting scammed. Also, from what I've heard, you don't need a fancy money pen to weed out the vast majority of fake bills.

Furthermore, I think I might have caused unnecessary alarm in my OP. The problem in question is not yet widespread in SH. And, with minimal advance planning, it can be avoided entirely.

My strategy here in Guangzhou is to always sit in the front of the taxi, regardless of the signs they have prohibiting it. This is the single most important thing you can do in China to avoid getting fake bills from cabbies. That way when I pay I can see everything the driver is doing with the money. Here in GZ they mostly have the "steel cage match" type bars separating the back and the front seating areas so its easy for the drivers to switch money on unsuspecting passengers.

My girlfriend has had it happen twice when sitting in the back, I've never had it happen and I always sit in the front (no matter how excruciatingly uncomfortable it is!). The trick they used on her last time was to accept her hundred, then give it back saying its fake. She, initially offered a real one, the guy somehow switched it and gave her the fake back. A real sneaky dude!

My girlfriend has had it happen twice when sitting in the back,

I first read about the Guangzhou scam ~2 years ago right here and have heard about it numerous times since.

But, prompted by your post, this evening, I decided to poll friends of mine on the topic. In the process, I learned that it is now more widespread than ever, to the extent that major hotels have put up signs encouraging guests to change their 100s before setting out. Two of my friends (one who has a clue, and another that isn't quite as saavy) were conned a total of 3 times during a recent 1-week trip.

I have some advice that might help in Shanghai. If you stick with the turcoise or golden colour taxis, a scam is more unlikely. If something happens, get the drivers number and call the company (or have someone call).

While at Canton Fair last week a friend of mine decided to change money
with the bell hop??? Don't ask why.

He got fake 100s from the guy. Seems whenever he tried to change them the
people could immediately tell from touching the bills they were fake. They didn't need to use a pen or a light...just by the feel of the bill.

While at Canton Fair last week a friend of mine decided to change money
with the bell hop??? Don't ask why.

He got fake 100s from the guy. Seems whenever he tried to change them the
people could immediately tell from touching the bills they were fake. They didn't need to use a pen or a light...just by the feel of the bill.

I have not seen a fake 100 yet but I have a fake 50 that my wife picked up somewhere along the way. I never accept anything but tens and twenties from taxi drivers. The front of the fake 50s look authentic and even include a strip. The paper is different but the quality isn't that significantly different but if you check the printing on the back of the bill you can tell that the quality isn't as good as a real. If the printing isn't crisp then don't accept the bill and always request a receipt which has the taxi information on it...

Some of my colleagues have gotten fake 50's, although that hasn't happened to me yet. I checked their counterfeit bills and the texture is quite different.

It seems 50 is low enough that foreigners don't check carefully but still could make a tidy profit for whoever is giving it out. Haven't heard of fake 20's yet.

Haven't heard of fake 20's yet.

I have. One of my Chinese friends in SH has been burned 3 times in the last 6 weeks. Apparently, fake 10s and 20s are the latest fad, presumably because people --including tourists-- had increasingly started to put 50s under the microscope.

I have. One of my Chinese friends in SH has been burned 3 times in the last 6 weeks. Apparently, fake 10s and 20s are the latest fad, presumably because people --including tourists-- had increasingly started to put 50s under the microscope.

I've always laughed when they check my 10's and 20's and even 5's as I imagine a clerk in the states scrutinizing my george washington, but I guess I should be more careful now.

Also as a tip for the 100's you can tell if they are real by rubbing your fingernail over the Chairman's jacket...it should have a different (rougher)texture than the rest of the bill. Many shopkeepers use this technique to check the hondos. I don't think it works on the 50 or lower.

The friend of mine who got the fake bills in Guangzhou went to B of A in the
US and changed them for US dollars. He claims he told the clerk he thought they might be phoney...but the clerk didn't seem to care and just gave him the US dollars. ^

I have. One of my Chinese friends in SH has been burned 3 times in the last 6 weeks. Apparently, fake 10s and 20s are the latest fad, presumably because people --including tourists-- had increasingly started to put 50s under the microscope.

Good info - most taxi drivers I've met don't check the 10's and 20's. I should start watching out for the 10's and 20's going forward.

My first exposure to fake money was in Guangzhou in 99... taxi gave my change (a couple 10's). I got out, walked into the Guangzhou airport (Baiyun) and went over to pay my airport usage fee. The lady threw my bills back at me, saying "fake" in Mandarin. Now, I knew the word for fake already at that time, but she had to say it 3 times, and the guy behind then said in English "fake", before it hit me that the taxi driver had totally screwed me. The desire to strangle had never been stronger.

I held onto those fake bills for a long time and showed everyone I knew in Taiwan and said "this is just another reason I like Taiwan more than China".

I held onto those fake bills for a long time and showed everyone I knew in Taiwan and said "this is just another reason I like Taiwan more than China".

Don't be naive. :rolleyes:

Don't be naive. :rolleyes:
How is this being naive?? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

How is this being naive?? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Maybe it's because most of these counterfeit currencies are printed in Taiwan? :rolleyes: .

I don't want to publish anything before it is sure that it works. I have no clue where you get them in the US. I do know that they don't work for money that is not on textile paper basis, like Australian Dollars or the 50 Thai Baht bill.
As soon as I get all information I will post it.

All the "money tester" pens do is detect the starch used on cheap paper to make it easy to handle.. this woln't detect a reasonably good counterfeit.

more info here: http://www.randi.org/jr/120304youve.html (http://www.randi.org/jr/120304youve.html)

In all, i'd say save your money.

_m

Maybe it's because most of these counterfeit currencies are printed in Taiwan? :rolleyes: .

Hmm, never heard that one before. While counterfeiters do exist in Taiwan, in 11 years here, handling tons of paper bills, I have only seen one counterfeit bill.

My wife has had occasion to handle up to $300K to $400K (US$, so NT$10 million?) worth of cash for a junior college that gets a lot of tuition paid in cash. NT$10,000,000 / NT$1000 notes = 10,000 paper bills. In 4 years, they had 2 counterfeit bills.

I doubt in the mainland the ratio would be so incredibly low.

Is your comment for real or just joshing me?

Hmm, never heard that one before. While counterfeiters do exist in Taiwan, in 11 years here, handling tons of paper bills, I have only seen one counterfeit bill.

My wife has had occasion to handle up to $300K to $400K (US$, so NT$10 million?) worth of cash for a junior college that gets a lot of tuition paid in cash. NT$10,000,000 / NT$1000 notes = 10,000 paper bills. In 4 years, they had 2 counterfeit bills.

I doubt in the mainland the ratio would be so incredibly low.

Is your comment for real or just joshing me?

Most counterfeit Chinese currencies are printed by Taiwanese underground mafia then smuggled into Mainland.

Most counterfeit Chinese currencies are printed by Taiwanese underground mafia then smuggled into Mainland.
I hadn't heard that, but then again it makes sense. Taiwanese made counterfeit RMB being used to buy all the fake Chinese goods smuggled into Taiwan.... :D

I hadn't heard that, but then again it makes sense. Taiwanese made counterfeit RMB being used to buy all the fake Chinese goods smuggled into Taiwan.... :D

Thus created a win-win situation :D