Two in as many days!
The one annoying thing about last night’s dinner was the taxi driver who brought us home. He started off by talking absolute horseshit about how he was really glad to see a Chinese person get in the car, because foreigners are so much trouble and never know how to tell him where they want to go. lzh pointed out that plenty of foreigners speak Chinese. I refrained from commenting. Considering how often I have had to guide Beijing taxi drivers around Beijing- even way back before all the suburban drivers came into the city- I don’t think I would’ve had anything positive to add to that discussion.
Anyways, to add injury to insult, he slipped us a fake 50 when we got home.
And he did that while rejecting a 100 he said was fake- but we’re pretty sure he didn’t have a chance to switch that one on us, too. It would seem that the fake 100 came with one of those weird, random bonuses lzh’s danwei hands out at apparently totally random moments. Her salary is deposited directly into her bank account, so there’s no chance of them handing out fakes with her salary (although one should always be careful of the ATM- lzh has banned me from ever taking money out of an ICBC ATM because they’re supposed to dispense the occasional fake), but those weird random bonuses are often paid in cash.
Anyway, I thought nothing of this driver rejecting that 100. The guy made it perfectly clear from the moment we stepped in the car that he was a total idiot. I, unthinkingly and totally unintentionally, handed it over in a local shop whose owners I trust. Rejected. Looked at in the clearer light of 4:30 in the afternoon, it was clearly fake.
Two fake notes in two days.
So, everybody, be careful. Fake money is still floating around out there.
I can understand why shops look at fifties and hundreds with suspicion. I think I still have my unwelcome, genuine fake ¥50 note somewhere which I acquired from a Changzhou taxi driver and which was rejected by touch alone in one of the local shops in Benniu. The girl didn’t even bother looking at it.
I think I’ve had one other encounter with a fake in my time.
Yeah, fakes aren’t too common, I guess because so many people are on the look-out for them, but they’re common enough that we need to be careful. Stay away from ICBC ATMs, for example. Still, two in two days was particularly frustrating, considering I’ve come across maybe only 3 or 4 other fakes in the last eight years.
Hi Chris,
I liked this post. Darn fakes! I reposted this blog entry on our forum of
http://www.chinatravel.net/Forum/ForumTopicInfo.asp?Topic=89
I linked to your site.
Rebekah
Rebekah, cool, and thanks for letting me know.