a clever scam

Chinese yuan on top, Belarus ruble on bottom

A colleague on my recent trip to China experienced a clever scam at the hands of some street merchants. He had negotiated the purchase of two "genuine fake" Louis Vuitton handbags, successfully negotiating the price down to 20 yuan (about $3.14). After being subtly encouraged to pay with a 100 Yuan bill, he received change of 80 in return.

My friend never suspected anything until he handed one of those bills to a driver to pay a taxi fare. The taxi driver took a look at the bill (the second bill in the picture above), took a second look, and handed it right back. Although the bill's colors are the same as a Chinese Yuan and may have looked genuine to the unsuspecting eye, there was no picture of Chairman Mao on the bill, a clear giveaway to any citizen of China!

Turns out my friend had been given change in Belarus rubles, a relatively worthless currency. 20 rubles are worth about one-fifth of one cent. Despite his "successful" price negotiations, he had ended up paying 100 rubles for the fake handbags (about $15.75). The scam was so clever, he almost didn't mind having been scammed!

Something to be on the lookout for when visiting China.


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copyright (c) 2011 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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