In a disheartening announcement from Chinese authorities, officials said machines used to identify counterfeit money were unable to detect fake banknotes after police seized more than four million yuan (about $790,000 Cdn.).
According to the South China Morning Post, police also tried spending some of counterfeit notes to see “how readily it was accepted”. Only one-fifth of the fake notes with a face value of 20 yuan or less were noticed by local business owners.
GANG RAID
Police in the city of Xuzhou, China, recently carried out a raid in which 14 suspects were arrested. The investigation was launched in January after reports of counterfeit banknotes being used at an agricultural market in Xuzhou.
According to the police report, investigators were surprised to discover the counterfeits were produced using everyday printers and other simple tools.