A 75 year-old woman surnamed Li recently got caught using counterfeit U.S. currency in exchange for real NT dollars at a bank in Taipei City. Police investigation showed that it was not her first attempt. Li and another woman have both been charged by the police.
The woman took out a thick stack of U.S. hundred dollar bills and wanted to exchange it all into NT dollars at the bank. The teller took the money but recognized it was fake soon enough. The counterfeit U.S. hundred-dollar bill is almost identical to the real hundred-dollar bill. A 75-year-old woman surnamed Li tried exchanging fake U.S. banknotes for NT dollars at a bank in Taipei City on the 13th. She said to the police she was unaware of its inauthenticity.
Lin Chin-feng, Dep. Chief, Changan East Rd Police Station, Taipei City PD: “Ms. Li argued that she didn't know it was fake cash. She said her neighbor Ms. Chen gave her the cash and asked her to go to the bank and make the exchange. Police found Ms. Chen but she also claimed that she didn't know it was fake cash. Both women after police interrogation are charged with using counterfeit money. The case has been handed over to Taipei District Prosecutors Office.”
The bank teller told the police that the record showed that Ms. Li had successfully fooled the teller and exchanged fake cash for real money twice at the end of 2022. It was harder for the teller to detect since she was using counterfeit U.S. currency banknotes of an older design.
Mr. Chang, Collector of Cultural Relics: “In order for me to collect older design coins and banknotes, I'd have to have the ability to detect real vs. fake ones. Or else it's quite upsetting to receive money that's so close to being real but they're just not real!”
Chang Kai-ping, Forensic Technician, Criminal Investigation Bureau: “Hold the bill up to the light and you can see the Benjamin Franklin watermark on the right side of the bill.”
Besides checking for watermarks and security thread with microprinting, another way to check to see if a bill is authentic is to check for color-shifting ink on the number in the lower right corner. Police would like to encourage the public to use the latest printed U.S. currency since the new designs are more difficult to counterfeit.
女子臨櫃換鈔票，要把美金換台幣，厚厚一疊，百元美鈔有50張，但行員一接手，馬上察覺事有蹊蹺。真假鈔比一比，幾乎找不出差別，75歲李姓女子，13日在台北市這處銀行，換假鈔被識破，但她向警方供稱，不清楚是假抄。
北市中山分局長安東路派出所副所長林進豐表示：「李姓婦人辯稱不知道這是偽鈔，係受鄰居陳姓婦人之託，才到場兌換，警方循線通知陳姓婦人到案，亦稱不知道這是偽鈔，兩人偵訊後依偽造貨幣罪，移請地檢署偵辦。」
縱使矢口否認知情，仍遭警方移送，行員還向警方說，早在去年底，她就兩度成功換鈔，只是就連行員也中計，因為她持有的是舊美鈔，辨別有難度。
文物收藏家張先生說：「要叫我收這些舊版的貨幣，我們自己本身就要有這些辨識的能力，不然的話，不小心收到這種超級美鈔，超級偽鈔的話，是滿累的。」
刑事局鑑識科技士張凱評指出：「用透光檢視的時候，可以在鈔券右側部分，可以看到富蘭克林的水印。」
警方要辨真偽，也得透過透光鑑識後，檢視浮水印及安全線，再來查看右下角，鈔票油墨變化，提醒民眾，舊美鈔現在市面，已經不流通，改以新版美鈔發行，若是有人給予，還是要避免收取，減少上當可能。