Holders should not pay for fake money

Extremely "real looking" fake bank notes have appeared in several provinces and cities across the country causing panic among the public because there were reports that even bill scanners failed to detect them.

To stop the panic, bank authorities have issued statements to assure the public that there was no possibility of fake money getting through the banks' scanners. The statements, however, sound too feeble to assuage the public's fear.

The assurance doesn't seem convincing enough because there had been reports of customers getting fake money from ATMs. The latest case occured only a few days ago, when a man surnamed Qian withdrew 1,000 yuan ($147) from an ATM at a bank in Mianyang, Sichuan province, but later found nine of the 10 100-yuan notes to be counterfeit. As he had not asked for an invoice from the automatic teller machine, the man could not prove the source of the money and had to bear the loss.