Singapore Expats

Money Changer at Raffles Place are Cons.....


Be warned.I think it's at the Arcade. You have been notified.
Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 13 December 2005 1956 hrs
Beware of fake notes from money changers

SINGAPORE : Imagine exchanging nearly S$900 for a foreign currency, receiving fake notes instead and in the end only getting half of the value that is owed to you.

This was what happened to 25-year-old TODAY reporter Lee U-Wen when he walked into a money changer at Raffles Place to get some English pounds.

A month after the transaction, he realised the six 50-pound notes were fakes.

Closer inspection of the suspicious notes showed they had no watermarks; three notes had the same serial number.

When U-Wen returned to the same money changer to seek recourse, the money changer agreed to compensate him half the original value.

Other money changers our news team spoke to advise travellers to be careful when exchanging foreign currency, and to inspect details like serial numbers and watermarks.

According to Police, there were seven reported cases of counterfeit currency involving money changers.

So what happened to the six fake notes that U-Wen returned in the end? They were destroyed by the money changer. - CNA /ct


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Yes, it's such a shame, isn't it? Half of its worth. Why did the victim accept it? If it was me I'll demand for my money back.

I seriously don't think people who have worked with ca$h half their lives cannot recognize fake money when they see it. Perhaps a younger apprentice took it in, and then the elders decided to give it out...

Too many holes in this story to be credible.

Who in their right mind would accept a wad of 50 pound notes Especially from a Money Changer.

Everyone in UK knows to be very wary of them and many places don't accept them

Mystic law using mystic logic again

This story was in the Today newspaper about a month ago...and yet somehow popped up on the teev just this week, I remembered reading it and thinking it a bit odd at the time.

I know there isn't a lot happening in Singapore to make the 30 minutes of news every night, but recycling?

Who in their right mind would accept a wad of 50 pound notes Especially from a Money Changer.

Everyone in UK knows to be very wary of them and many places don't accept them

Well, probably quite a lot of people here who aren't from the UK or haven't been there before, after all here $50 notes are common since they don't have 20's, and supposedly it was only 6 of them. It's not that unbelievable.

I agree

But one can always report Asian news. Tonnes of stories on Sino-Japan friction hehe

micknlea wrote: I know there isn't a lot happening in Singapore to make the 30 minutes of news every night, but recycling?

Well, one thing for sure those money changers are no saints. This happen to me 1 over months back at the money changer in arcade. I change about 6 to 7 k worth of sgd from foreign curr back to sgd. Due to the big amount. They place all the $50 noted in the counting machine. As the number tally, I left and try to deposit it into the ATM machine a few doors away only to find out that they slotted a $10 note in between the stack of $50. Effectively I lost $40. I went back and told them they slip a $10 in between the $50s and they just act innocent and gave me a blank stare. I left there feeling cheated. However I hv no proof becos I step away. Next time u change money anywhere make sure u count note by note and make sure the sum is correct b4 stepping away.

I had no idea these guys were such theives. I think that because the authorities are generally so vigilant agains crime here that I always assumed that the usual crap that can on with money changers would not happen here. Given the few posts that made it to this site i am imagining that there are many more out there with similar stories.

One of the newspapers or news shows should set up a sting to try and catch these guys at it.