Counterfeits of Rs 500, 2,000 out in Puducherry

PUDUCHERRY: For the unsuspecting shopkeepers and customers, counterfeit currencies are a menace they still have to deal with, though it has been over a year since demonetisation. Fake notes not only appear in smaller denominations like Rs 100, Rs 50 and Rs 10, but also in post-demonetisation currencies of Rs 2,000, and Rs 500. Most most part, they are undetected.

“We have had customers giving counterfeit currencies of both Rs 2,000 and Rs 500,” said  Jeevarathinam, proprietor of Thanigachalam Mudaliar Rice Shop on MG Road. “I had to return the notes and ask them for real ones,” he said, adding that people had given him counterfeits on at least three occasions in the last six months. Jeevarathinam now has a fake money detection machine.

While some came from floating population, some came from regular customers. A customer was surprised when a store refused to accept a Rs 50 note, stating it was counterfeit. The customer, who received the note as change, felt swindled and even tried to remember who had given it.