Gang of 20 busted in China for making and selling fake 20-yuan bank notes
The bills were printed, gilted, lacquered with a thin film, soaked in soy sauce, dried and worn out by a wooden scraper before they were introduced into the market as real money
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 07 January, 2016, 2:45pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 07 January, 2016, 2:53pm
Mandy Zuo
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The counterfeit currency came in small denominations of just 20 yuan as people were less likely to check them. Photo: Qq.com
Police in eastern China have busted a gang of more than 20 people involved in the making and selling of counterfeit 20-yuan bank notes totalling more than 10 million yuan (HK$11.8 million).
The notes were printed, gilted, lacquered with a thin film, soaked in soy sauce, dried and worn out by a wooden scraper before they were introduced into the market as real money, Iqilu.com reported.
The suspects – 24 of whom were detained and two still on the run – chose to produce fake 20-yuan bills because people were unlikely to check such small denominations as carefully as they did 50-yuan and 100-yuan notes, one of them was quoted as saying.
They were uncovered when a package of the counterfeit currency was lost in delivery in Weifang in June, police in Shandong province said.
Police officers study the fake notes seized. Photo: Qq.com
The delivery firm opened the package after failing to locate its receipt, which is usually stuck on packages with the sender’s and receiver’s information, and found four bags of fake bank notes inside.
They were sent to a farmer in the city of Zhucheng, disguised as plastic mobile phone covers, according to police investigations.
The farmer confessed he had bought half-completed counterfeit bills from someone online and followed the instructions given to soak, dry and wear out before using them as real bank notes.
He stopped using the fake notes some time later and went into becoming a dealer of the counterfeit currency shortly after, buying each bill at 2.5 yuan and selling it for 2.7 yuan.
A real 20-yuan note versus an uncompleted fake one (below). Photo: Qq.comFollowing investigations, police arrested several others along the chain in other cities across Shandong, Hebei, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Henan, Fujian and Liaoning over the next six months, the report said.
