Taipei, Dec. 4 (CNA) A man working for a recycling company who claimed to have found 14 US$100 bills and tried to exchange them for Taiwan dollars is being investigated for attempting to circulate counterfeit securities, Taipei police said Monday.
In a press release, the Taipei City Police Department’s Zhongzheng First Precinct said the 37-year-old man, surnamed Su (蘇), claimed to have found the bills in a heap of waste paper while collecting recycled materials from a building.
Su took the bills to two separate bank branches to see if they were genuine, but employees at both said they looked suspicious, and urged him to go to the Bank of Taiwan’s head office to have them authenticated, the department said.
Although Su did go to the bank’s head office, he went directly to the foreign exchange department to try and change the money, police said.
Upon checking the bills, two bank employees spotted irregularities in their color, texture and pattern. After determining they were counterfeit the police were notified, the department said.
The statement said that officers who were called to the scene questioned Su, and later referred him to Taipei City prosecutors to be investigated for intentionally circulating counterfeit securities.
If charged and convicted of the crime, the suspect could face a prison term of three to 10 years and a fine of up to NT$90,000 (US$2,868) under the Criminal Code, the department said.
People in possession of suspected counterfeit currency are asked to report it to the police or to the Central Bank’s Department of Issuing, the department said.
