Counterfeit one-yuan (US$0.12) coins have been found circulating in Shenzhen.

An investigation by a Shenzhen newspaper reporter found that four newsstands in downtown Dongmen had been receiving about 20 fake coins a day. According to some newsstand owners, many fake coins had appeared recently. Some said that after receiving the coins, they spent them.

A company that operates a pay-as-you-enter minibus service complained that it was receiving about 20 fake coins in every 1,000. A Wal-Mart source also reported the emergence of counterfeit coins at its chain stores.

The reporter found that at first glance the fakes resembled genuine coins but careful examination revealed poor workmanship, with unclear-minted designs and characters.

A newsstand owner on Renminbei Road said that in the past two weeks he had been approached by six people selling fake coins. He was offered 135 counterfeit one-yuan coins for a 100-yuan banknote. If the coins were of poor quality, he was offered 100 for 65 yuan.

The owner said the coin peddlers were all men in their 30s.

Fake coin peddlers were reported to have been seen at the entrance of a bank near the Shenzhen Special Zone Press Tower.

An official of the Shenzhen branch of the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, said she had no way of knowing the extent of the circulation of counterfeit coins.

(Shenzhen Daily December 22, 2003)