On May 13th, the public security department in Jiangxi announced a case of counterfeit money printing, which has affected over a thousand victims, most of whom are elderly residents in rural areas, sparking public outrage.
According to a report from CCTV News, in September 2023, the Fuzhou City Public Security Bureau in Jiangxi Province received multiple reports of counterfeit money being used in the urban areas, with most of the reports coming from vendors in nearby agricultural markets.
Surveillance footage from one agricultural market showed the suspect first giving a genuine banknote to an elderly person for verification. Once the elderly person confirmed it was genuine, the suspect then falsely claimed to need change, took back the genuine banknote, and subsequently gave the elderly person counterfeit money to get change.
After investigation, it was found that over a thousand people in counties such as Linchuan, Dongxiang, Jinxi, Nancheng, Yihuang, Chongren, and Lean had fallen victim to the scam. The police eventually identified the repeat offender couple, He and Xu, who were caught multiple times using counterfeit money. In their home, a large sum of small denominations ranging from 1 to 50 yuan were discovered, totaling over two hundred thousand yuan, along with ink, printers, paper cutting knives, and other tools used in counterfeiting.
The couple admitted that they would first identify which agricultural market was busy market day, and then use counterfeit money through the purchase of vegetables to get change. Their daily use of counterfeit money ranged from 300 to 3000 yuan.
Currently, the couple has been criminally detained.
On May 14th, related keywords surged to the top of hot search rankings. Many netizens expressed anger, stating, “This is really unethical. The elderly population are the ones predominantly using cash now, especially some rural elderly who do not have a pension and rely solely on selling their own vegetables or fruits to make some hard-earned money.” “My god, they are deceiving honest farmers.” “The grandpas and grandmas selling vegetables might end up working for nothing for days. It’s really unethical.”
Some shared personal experiences, “This is so unethical, cheating elderly people. Last time, my mom sold the chickens we raised at home at the market and received two hundred counterfeit bills.” “My father-in-law sells rice, even at sixty or seventy years old, he helps deliver upstairs, only to receive a fake one-hundred bill, which offsets dozens of efforts. People using counterfeit money are truly despicable.” “My mom received 6 counterfeit bills.” “What is happening in this society now!”