Since 2010, the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) removed 195,294 counterfeit banknotes from circulation in Jalisco valued at 56,894,810 pesos.
Although 2013 is documented with the most seized, of 10,107 units of 500 pesos in Guadalajara, so far this year they have located, in the same municipality, 1,994 pieces of the same denomination.
One of those affected by this practice, Alan Orlando, said that after selling a bicycle for two thousand pesos, he wanted to pay for his drinks at a convenience store with a 500-peso fake bill that the buyer gave him. However, the cashier detected it and returned it to him.
Ignacio Román, a researcher at the Technological and Higher Studies Institute of the West (ITESO), stressed that although at the macroeconomic level no serious effects have been detected due to this type of fraud, the authorities must increase the actions for their combat, since their use can destabilize the economy.
They insure almost a thousand fake notes a day in the country
A month ago, Alan Orlando put a bike on sale through Facebook. The interested buyer paid with two thousand pesos. Among the bills, he gave him was a fake 500 peso.
He realized later when he used it in a convenience store near Revolution Park, the cashier noticed the irregularity and gave it back to him.
Alan Orlando had the same experience with others of the same denomination: there were clear differences in the holograms on the left side of the paper money. They looked more opaque than in the “real ones”. Everything else looked like the “legal” piece except that one detail.
According to the Bank of Mexico (Banxico), between January 1 and September 6 of this year, 231,848 apocryphal notes were seized in Mexico: 934 a day, on average.
The institution stressed that the most affected city of this period was Mexico City, where 37,947 false units of 500 pesos were seized.
In the case of Jalisco, in this period 13,576 apocryphal notes were obtained. Of this amount, half was detected in Guadalajara.
In 2012, following the renewal of an agreement between Banxico and the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Investigation of Counterfeiting and Currency Alteration was created. This body is responsible for directly receiving complaints about these illegal practices.
According to the Bank of Mexico (Banxico), so far in 2018 false banknotes have been found in 69 municipalities of Jalisco.
The institution stressed that Guadalajara is the area in which more counterfeits were found.
Banxico said that up to September of this year 3,375 apocryphal units of 100 pesos, 1,202 of 200 pesos and 1,994 of 500 pesos were seized in the Jalisco capital.
They indicated that if they had value, they would equal 1,574.900 pesos. However, 1,000 50 peso bills also circulated illegally.
Others cities stand out in the list, in terms of the volume of the units recovered, are Zapopan, Tonalá, Tlajomulco, Tlaquepaque, Puerto Vallarta, Tepatitlán and Arandas.
Puerto Vallarta surpassed some of the metropolitan municipalities in securing false bills of 500 pesos. For example, while in this coastal town 388 were located so far this year, in Tlajomulco there were 86. In the case of Arandas, 109 pieces were removed.
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