There’s been loads of news lately about fake 100 yuan notes that are supposedly so good that they’re almost indistinguishable from the real thing. The People’s Bank of China has repeatedly said that this is not true and pointed out a number of ways to tell a real note from a fake one. Photographs and diagrams showing people how to do this have been published in the papers and all over the internet. But as far as I can tell, no one’s thought fit to publish this in English. Surely people who don’t read Chinese would like to know too. So, below the fold, I’ve roughly translated the graphics provided by Sina.com.
(CORRECTION: Within minutes of posting this, I discovered the China Daily has already published an English-language diagram. Oh well.)
I take no no responsibility for any violence that might occur when, based on this information, you falsely accuse someone of trying to give you a fake note. If you do find you’ve been ripped off and your money is worthless, all is not lost. You might not be able to spend that fake 100 yuan note, and you can be certain that the bank whose ATM gave you this counterfeit will not refund you, but you can still follow Michael Manning’s instructions and amuse yourself making Happy-Mao and Sad-Mao.
Most of these security features apply to all yuan-denominated notes. Some of them become less distinct, or even non-existent if the note is old and battered. I still prefer to judge by the feel of the note - the distinct roughness of Mao’s jacket.
I think this one’s pretty cool, but the older and more creased the note, the less it works. Real notes can end up looking like the fake one below.
10 Comments
Thanks for this, very helpful
Thanks for the the hat-tip. If only I still had great posting ideas like that one!
I need to look at China with fresh eyes.
Thanks for the information - even I saw them a little too late! A closing shop just found a 10 RMB fake note when my girlfriends mother wanted to pay. Luckely nobody at the job worried - they just refused to accept the note.
We hope it was the only fake note in our pockets.
Remenber also that al the bill’s with HD90 serial are fake!!!
Thanks for raising that point EU. There is a widespread belief that all notes with serial numbers beginning with HD90 are fake. This NOT true. Some are and some aren’t. I suspect this is how the belief arose that these new fakes are super-high quality.
HELLO! WHAT ABOUT A 100 YUAN NOTE OF THE YEAR 1999? IT IS DIFFERENT! HOW CAN WE IDENTIFY IT?
Thank you very much for posting these useful tips on how to tell the fake notes from the real one!!!May all go well with you(the writer).Good luck and May GOD bless you!!!I sincerely hope that the fake money will disappear from this world!!!
Andy
May 14th2009
Some fakes now have an abrasive added to the area of Mao’s jacket. Thus, on fakes, that area is no longer necessarily smooth.
If you compare the roughness of the fake with the ridges of a real bill, the difference are obvious. However, if you’re just checking for roughness with nothing else to compare it to, it is easy to be fooled.
Hi, some say that we can also test with rubbing the notes and if there is color coming out means it’s fake.
Is that true?
Alanis,
If color came off when you rubbed it, then yes it would be fake, but this is not a useful test. No fake note is that badly made. If it was, you would be able to see the smudges.
You don’t rub the note to see if color comes off, you rub it gently to feel for ridges.
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