The Macao Judiciary Police announced Wednesday that it has uncovered the largest ever bogus buck case in the Macao Special Administrative Region, seizing 300 counterfeit 100-US dollar bills.
Three women aged under 20 on Tuesday went to exchange 80 counterfeit bills into Hong Kong dollars in a Macao bank, which found the bills suspicious and reported to the police.
The police soon traced to their employers, a couple surnamed Chan, which led to the finding of 300 fake bills in total.
A police spokesman said the bogus money were made with advanced counterfeiting technology, and can be passed for genuine bills if without spectrogram screening and paper fabric test. The fake bills also carry several anti-counterfeiting markers.
The Macao police is still investigating the case, and has informed Interpol to initiate an international tracing of the source of the counterfeit money.
Fake US dollar bills were not often seen in Macao. The most recent such case was exposed in September last year, when three Brazilian men were seized spending the counterfeit money in a disco bar.
The police warned that with more frequent international exchanges and an increase in tourist arrivals, Macao should guard against a surging number of financial crimes. The police has reinforced cooperation with the finance authorities and banks in Macao and China's mainland to strike against such crimes.
(Xinhua News Agency August 27, 2003)
