The central bank said Tuesday results of investigations into the fake 100-yuan notes that have recently surfaced in a number of major cities including Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai would be released soon.

"We are monitoring the situation closely," Xu Li, the central bank's information officer, told China Daily Tuesday.

"Results of our probe will soon be released," Xu said, without elaborating.

Most of the counterfeit notes display serial numbers starting with "HD90", the authorities have said.

The Shanghai headquarters of the central bank said yesterday it would also launch measures to crack down on the circulation of the fake notes, by strengthening cooperation between public security and related industrial and commercial departments.

Communication between commercial banks and counterfeit-note detector manufacturers will also be enhanced to boost anti-counterfeit measures at bank counters, it said in a statement.

By the end of October last year, upgrading of all the fake-note detectors in Shanghai's commercial banks had been completed, it said.

The Shanghai headquarters of the central bank will also contact the relevant departments to boost the production and quality of the detectors.

Similarly, merchants and retailers should take the initiative and contact manufacturers of counterfeit-note detectors to have the devices upgraded, it said.

The first fake note sporting the "HD90" prefix was reportedly found in Yangjiang, Guangdong province, a year ago.

Many stores and salespeople in the province have already found ways to deal with the use of the fake notes.

"Our boss has put up notices in the restaurant and refused to receive notes beginning with HD90," said Cai Yuan, a waitress in Guangzhou.

Taxi driver Li Zhongming said he has refused to receive any 100-yuan notes at all.

"I often receive money at night," Li said. "It's hard to identify fake notes in the dark."

In Shanghai, more people went to counters to withdraw money instead of ATMs yesterday, following reports of fake notes found at the machines.

A Shanghai resident, surnamed Zhang, said the possibility of getting fake notes from well-trained bank tellers was slim.

"I feel better in getting money from bank clerks than from machines," she said.

(China Daily January 14, 2009)