Warning on Counterfeit Money

Hi all,

I just got back from BA (first trip, will post trip report soon) Just wanted to warn everyone to keep a close eye when getting change back merchants, bars, etc. I was handed a fake $5 and a fake $10 peso bill.

The hotel informed me of the fakes when I was checking out. Luckily, I only had those 2 in fakes. The $5 is very obvious now that I look at it, the serial numbers on the left side of the front are a bit blurry and slight different color than a real bill.

The $10 is a good copy as for serial numbers, but the paper is very smooth. Real pesos have a rougher feel to them, they should feel just like American Dollars do when crinkled up.

On last week's trip to BA I ended up with 210 pesos in counterfeit money. I'm still not sure how it happened, but there are only 2 possibilities. I got 600 pesos out of the Banelco at the Galicia bank on 670 Marcelo te de Alvear. I was just about broke, so all 6 100-peso notes in my pocket were from this transaction. I spent 300 very well for the attentions of 2 lovely ladies, and I went to the Museo Nacionale de Bellas Artes to look at all the great paintings of naked ladies (as soon as you walk in the door, you can see what the Argeninians love to collect -- the Manet of the nymph surprised is one of the great paintings in the history of the world IMHO) I digress.

The taxi driver who picked me up in front of the museo rejected my 10 peso note as counterfeit when I tried to pay him. He was so friendly! He loved yanquis. He made a big deal about the lack of a line going vertically toward the left of the bill, with the line only visible when the bill is held up to strong light (I guess the line is inside the paper) Here's where my memory gets shakey. In the taxi I started looking at my other bills. My memory is that I held a 100-peso note up to the bright afternoon light and I did not see a line. My memory is that I then gave it to him to confirm this, and he said it was phoney. My memory is that I then looked at my 2 other 100 peso bills as well as my smaller bills, without giving them to the taxi driver. All the other bills had the magic line except for another of the 100 peso notes. My memory is that the driver never touched this second counterfeit 100 peso note.

I went to the Galicia bank to complain, and they said that only tourists complain about counterfeit money. They said that merchants routinely replace a good small bill (e. G. My 10-peso note) with counterfeit and then try to "help" the tourist identify any other counterfeit notes. They take the good notes and covertly replace them with counterfeit as their hands move to raise the bills to the light. The Galicia bank said that it was impossible that I might have gotten counterfeit from the ATM.

In retrospect I guess I trust the bank more than the taxi driver and more than my memory. I must have let the taxi driver touch both 100-peso notes, but this is hard to admit.

I was too happy about all the great sex and the great art. Happy, I was full of trust and well-being for all. It cost me about $65 U. S.

I did a search, and I did not see much recent discussion of counterfeit money. It is embarrassing that I could get ripped off so badly on a fourth trip. So this is a cautionary tale:

The person who identifies the counterfeit note might well be a lovable thief trying to get you to ask him / her to "help" you confirm that your other money is valid currency. If this ever happens again in a taxi, I will make sure to get the guy's ID number and license plate.

Or could the bank have given me 2 bad bills along with 4 good ones?

Your story in itself is worth $65 USD, the taxi driver got to you, their notorious for passing bad bill's to tourist, enjoy the experience and by the way its happend to me too.

Exon

Sorry to hear about your experience.

Maybe we should start giving argentine visitors to our respective countries counterfit money as well?

Nahh, it's better to have some class.

I'm going to BA at the biginning of April for two weeks, and I've decided that at pretty much every transaction I make with anything more than a $5, I will scratch it off a list I will carry on my person.

I know it sounds like a huge pain in the ass, but if these guys are willing to go to the extreme of counterfiting small denominations, then maybe we should all put in just as much effort to protect ourselves.

Thank you very much for your story, It helped me to make up my mind about taking such a drastic step.

Gustavo

[QUOTE=Gasensio]Sorry to hear about your experience.

Maybe we should start giving argentine visitors to our respective countries counterfit money as well?

Nahh, it's better to have some class.

I'm going to BA at the biginning of April for two weeks, and I've decided that at pretty much every transaction I make with anything more than a $5, I will scratch it off a list I will carry on my person.

I know it sounds like a huge pain in the ass, but if these guys are willing to go to the extreme of counterfiting small denominations, then maybe we should all put in just as much effort to protect ourselves.

Thank you very much for your story, It helped me to make up my mind about taking such a drastic step.

Gustavo[/QUOTE]Never had any from a bank or money exchange in 20 years or for that matter ever. Most merchants check the watermark on the 100 peso bills only.

Argento

[QUOTE=Gasensio]Sorry to hear about your experience.

Maybe we should start giving argentine visitors to our respective countries counterfit money as well?

Nahh, it's better to have some class.

I'm going to BA at the biginning of April for two weeks, and I've decided that at pretty much every transaction I make with anything more than a $5, I will scratch it off a list I will carry on my person.

I know it sounds like a huge pain in the ass, but if these guys are willing to go to the extreme of counterfiting small denominations, then maybe we should all put in just as much effort to protect ourselves.

Thank you very much for your story, It helped me to make up my mind about taking such a drastic step.

Gustavo[/QUOTE]Once back when I was a "Rookie" monger I had a cad driver burn me with 1o 2 peso notes.

Exon

Seems to me that you have pais 100 pesos to a magician taxista for his trick.

Once, as I was really tired, on my way ezeiza centro the magician convert my 100 pesos bill to a 10 pesos! He also was really friendly!

[QUOTE=Argento]Never had any from a bank or money exchange in 20 years or for that matter ever. Most merchants check the watermark on the 100 peso bills only.

Argento[/QUOTE]Corner of Cabildo and LaCroze. I got a fake 100 out of their machine. It had to be their as I got 400 pesos out and they were the only 100s I had. I took the subte downtown and got a hair cut. Following my own rules of converting large bills to small one I had the 100s in my right hand pocket along with a duece, all other bills in my left hand pocket. When I paid for the haircut and message I pulled the 100s out of the right handed it to the girl and she IMMEDIATLY handed it back to me. She accepted it with open hands and the bill was never out of my sight. It was fake, no doubt about it. The bank gave me the same line "It is impossible that it came from our machine."

I have had many a taxi driver try this trick on me and as a result I always make sure to have small change. I tend to drink (making me seem an easy person to scam) and after a few taxi drivers pulled this trick on me for 10 or 20 pesos I started to wise up. Right after you pay they change your money for bad money and give it back to you. The drivers will act really nice about it like its no big deal and it happens all the time. The only other time I have been told my money was fake was I got change from a taxi driver. Another variation of this scam is you pay with 20 pesos and the taxi changes it out of view to 2 pesos and says you gave him the wrong amount.

Now I always go out of my way to have small bills so I can pay taxi drivers with pretty close to exact change and never give them a 100. I also always pay when I get out of the cab. First I have a better view point than from in the back and second I'm not trapped if we have a dispute. When they try to pull the trick on me I usually either call them a mentiroso (liar) if I'm real drunk or if I'm only a little drunk I usually say "No problema, llamas la policia" (no problem call the police) Either way they pretty much leave right away.

On a typical 2 week visit the taxi drivers try this trick on me about 5 times. Granted I do drink alot and hang out in touristy areas. Hope this helps someone.

It never happend to me but I stopped giving out 100 bills to taxi drivers long before I stopped taking taxi's.

If you want to argue with the guy do it in a public place and it's best if there is a police officer. Don't take your chances in a shady place.

I try to get most of my money at the airport bank, or Citibank after that. I've never had a fake bill, but have had lots of taxi drivers pull one scam or another.

Wasn't there one poster here, who said he handed a whole bunch of 100's to a taxi driver one time, and the guy handed them back one by one, saying they were all fake?

I had a bad experience with a cab driver today. First, he said my street was closed because of protests, but he would drop me off 100 meters away. Fine. Then, when I went to pay at the end the 8 peso fee, with a 10 peso bill. But he said no. So, I grabbed another 10. And same. He wanted a bigger bill, I suspect, to give me phony change. I said no, all I have is a 2, or the 10's. (I had 100's. He then turned off the meter and speed up 2 blocks past my street, that was not blocked off by the way. I thought he was taking me somewhere to rob me. He pulled over and began to make gestures like he was going to hit me, saying this is not radio taxi, yelling, trying to scare me. Yelling ocho. Not taking my pesos that were not phony. Not accepting legit coin change. I said get policia, get a police man. I stayed calm, but asked him if he's "loco". He said, yes, loco! I ended up just throwing pocket change and 2 in his hand, probably equaling 5 pesos all together. As I got out, I said to a guy trying to get in. Not This Cab! He nodded. And the cab took off. I'm glad I read about the taxi cash swap scam. And this guy was enraged because I would not fall into his game.

[QUOTE=Lego Maniac]I have had many a taxi driver try this trick on me and as a result I always make sure to have small change. I tend to drink (making me seem an easy person to scam) and after a few taxi drivers pulled this trick on me for 10 or 20 pesos I started to wise up. Right after you pay they change your money for bad money and give it back to you. The drivers will act really nice about it like its no big deal and it happens all the time. The only other time I have been told my money was fake was I got change from a taxi driver. Another variation of this scam is you pay with 20 pesos and the taxi changes it out of view to 2 pesos and says you gave him the wrong amount.

Now I always go out of my way to have small bills so I can pay taxi drivers with pretty close to exact change and never give them a 100. I also always pay when I get out of the cab. First I have a better view point than from in the back and second I'm not trapped if we have a dispute. When they try to pull the trick on me I usually either call them a mentiroso (liar) if I'm real drunk or if I'm only a little drunk I usually say "No problema, llamas la policia" (no problem call the police) Either way they pretty much leave right away.

On a typical 2 week visit the taxi drivers try this trick on me about 5 times. Granted I do drink alot and hang out in touristy areas. Hope this helps someone.[/QUOTE]Usually they will switch a fake 100 for your real hundred and then your fucked.

Never hand a cabbie a hun.

Now I have a dillema.

What do I do with a fake hun?

1. Give it to a hooker at Orleans?

2. Pass it off at Madahoe's?

3. Buy some blow?

4. Sell it for 50?

5. Pay for a really shitty meal at an expensive restaurant served by an asshole of a waiter?

Yes, number 5 is the best choice!

TL