A man from the mainland printed “Hong Kong HSBC Bank One Thousand Dollars” on 14 out-of-circulation Peruvian banknotes and attempted to exchange them into casino chips in a local casino, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lei Chi Hou said during a regular press conference yesterday.
The 35-year-old suspect surnamed Gao claimed to be a financial analyst.
According to Lei, the police received a report from a casino in the city centre on Saturday saying that a man had attempted to use 14 counterfeit notes to buy casino chips worth HK$14,000 from a cashier’s cage.
Police who arrived at the scene discovered that Gao’s notes bore little resemblance to genuine Hong Kong dollar notes in colour, paper quality, or pattern, merely having the words “Hong Kong HSBC Bank One Thousand Dollars” printed in the centre.
Under questioning, Gao claimed the currency notes had been given to him by his father and that he mistakenly thought they were genuine Hong Kong dollars, unaware they were counterfeit.
However, the police discovered that the suspect had previously searched online multiple times for information related to what other currency banknotes look similar to HK$1,000 banknotes.
Gao has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a charge of circulating counterfeit currency.
“Sol” (“Sun”) is the name of Peru’s national currency.
This undated handout photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday shows the counterfeit HK banknotes.
