crime

Counterfeit $100 bills being passed at currency exchange shops in Shibuya

16 Comments

Police said a number of counterfeit $100 bills have been passed at currency exchange shops in Tokyo's Shibuya district.

In the latest incident, on Monday, an employee of a currency exchange business discovered that a counterfeit $100 bill was brought to the store sometime over the weekend, Fuji Tv reported.

According to police, since mid-October, multiple reports have been filed by currency appraisal experts about bogus bills being passed. Police have subsequently found dozens of fraudulent bills and are trying to trace the route by which the forged currency began circulating.

According to Tomohiko Endo, an expert on counterfeit detection and currency appraisals, several "foreign-looking men" visited a currency exchange shop in Shibuya on Oct 27 and exchanged several fake $100 bills for Japanese yen.

Endo said the bogus bills he has seen so far are almost impossible to detect and that they can pass inspection on a magnetic reader.

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16 Comments
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several "foreign-looking men" visited a currency exchange shop

Here we go!

6 ( +7 / -1 )

several "foreign-looking men" 

Wow! Just....wow!

6 ( +6 / -0 )

The counterfeit notes were Chinese made, they showed on TV how to spot them.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@pacint

The counterfeit notes were Chinese made, they showed on TV how to spot them.

It doesn't necessarily mean Chinese people brought them into the shop. They could have been bought by anyone at a cheap price on the blackmarket.

several "foreign-looking men"

Which can also mean Japanese criminals were possibly involved, but we won't say because it will make us look bad.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

The fact is that it's fairly easy to identify someone as either Japanese, or not Japanese. Any descriptions of the perpetrators will help catch them.

The bigger question here is why the exchange shops aren't checking ID when they exchanged the money!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I'm sorry... This is mind blowing. Why would they not check them? There many quick and standardized ways of quickly testing currency. It's a currency exchange place for Pete's sake. If you use a 50 or 100 in the USA, assuming the place takes it, they check the bills right there in front of you.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

They were wearing hats and masks. Two of them are now said to be Japanese.

The machines in many cases failed to spot the fakes. Different machines have always got different results, so nothing new in that respect, but these notes have various new features. They were discovered by tellers who reported that they felt different.

https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/videonews/fnn?a=20171030-00000938-fnn-soci

5 ( +5 / -0 )

That would suck to buy those 100s and get in trouble for it when you are in the States. Time to invest in a pocket blacklight!

If you exchange less than 30man they don't check IDs. If you exchange more, they check your ID and ask the ludicrous questions, "What do you plan to use this money for?" and "Where did this money come from?" Umm, it came from my job and I plan to buy things in the States...

Seriously, what criminals are they catching with this questioning method?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

at least it wasn't blamed on north korea.

https://thediplomat.com/2016/07/whats-behind-north-koreas-recent-counterfeiting/ etc...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Never said the distributors were Chinese but a Japanese handing out $100Bills in Japan would be rather strange.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

And the irony that $100 US bills are pretty much useless in United States.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@pacint

Never said the distributors were Chinese but a Japanese handing out $100Bills in Japan would be rather strange.

Why? Japanese people don't go to the US or its territories? They never use currency exchange shops?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I've had a weird experience with counterfeit bills in Japan. I had to go to China for business, and I bought some Chinese currency on Haneda. One of the bills was fake, and I was lucky the Chinese shop I tried to use it just pointed that to me. It was an obvious fake, even I could easily see it. I have no idea how did that slip into the bank on an international airport. Unfortunately, I didn't keep the receipt, nor remembered the name of the bank, so I just tossed it to the trash bin.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I've had new $100 bills that I got inside a highly reputable bank in the USA rejected by Japanese bill checking machines. The bills were all sequential S/N.

I've used $100s in the USA, but not for a $2 purchase. Have used them at food places for $25+ checks. The manager is usually called over and they look through the bill to see the transparent $100-$100-$100-$100-$100-$100 strip. If the bill "feels" right, have that strip, everyone assumes they are legal. And since cash isn't really backed by anything besides a belief of worth, after the first transaction with the counterfeit bill, it is unclear what harm is happening. If everyone treats it like $100 for $100 worth of goods or services ...

Does Hong Kong still have different notes issued by different banks?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Wonder " who " behind those foreign look....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I spend time at tokyo few month, you need to have ya passport ready to exchanged usd /euro bills..

With thou high tech +++ at japan, plus Passport Id,

Hongkong and singapore got better security.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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