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How to tell if your 100 yuan note is fake

real-and-fake.jpg 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.


Real 100 yuan 1

Fake 100 yuan 1

Real 100 yuan 2

Fake 100 yuan 2

Real 100 yuan 3

Fake 100 yuan 3

Real 100 yuan 4


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.

Fake 100 yuan 4

100 yuan

10 Comments

  1. Rhodo Zeb wrote:

    Thanks for this, very helpful

    Monday, January 19, 2009 at 11:00 pm | Permalink
  2. michael wrote:

    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.

    Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 1:43 am | Permalink
  3. hgroli wrote:

    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.

    Friday, January 23, 2009 at 7:59 pm | Permalink
  4. Eu wrote:

    Remenber also that al the bill’s with HD90 serial are fake!!!

    Monday, February 2, 2009 at 11:36 am | Permalink
  5. rob wrote:

    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.

    Monday, February 2, 2009 at 7:51 pm | Permalink
  6. E.T wrote:

    HELLO! WHAT ABOUT A 100 YUAN NOTE OF THE YEAR 1999? IT IS DIFFERENT! HOW CAN WE IDENTIFY IT?

    Friday, March 27, 2009 at 3:52 pm | Permalink
  7. Andy wrote:

    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

    Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 12:41 pm | Permalink
  8. James Li wrote:

    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.

    Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 3:07 pm | Permalink
  9. Alanis wrote:

    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?

    Thursday, July 5, 2012 at 10:29 am | Permalink
  10. rob wrote:

    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.

    Friday, July 6, 2012 at 4:00 pm | Permalink

5 Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Spotting Fake Money | 工商法 on Monday, January 19, 2009 at 11:26 pm

    […] Black and White Cat has the details on how to identify the new fake notes, and the link to more info from China Daily. Very, very useful. […]

  2. Global Voices Online » China: How to tell a RMB 100 fake note? on Thursday, January 22, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    […] on Black and White cat teaches you how to differentiate a fake RMB 100 note. It is very helpful as a large amount of fake notes has been circulating in the market. Posted […]

  3. […] Here is a photo of how to tell real from fake 100rmb notes, but go to this site http://www.blackandwhitecat.org/2009/01/19/how-to-tell-if-your-100-yuan-note-is-fake/ […]

  4. […] out this link for details. Truth be told, it is not too difficult to tell. The fake note looks like poor quality […]

  5. Vrais ou Faux : apprendre à vérifier ses billets en Chine on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 11:54 am

    […] avec un faux Mao sur les bras. Vous avez déjà vu le serveur lever votre billet au ciel ? Petit shéma pour comprendre pourquoi […]

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