Fake Bolivianos? Fake US Dollars?

Hi,

There are a few fake notes circulating but i dont think too many more than other south american countries. Best thing to do is the usual precautions, dont change money on the street etc, use atms attached to banks etc. The fake notes are quite obvious, just always check, theyre thicker and often feel newer as a lot of the money in Bolivia is a bit worse for wear, also the print has less detail.<BR><BR>As for dollars, i always use Bolivianos so i havent seen any of the fakes.

Hope that helps

phil

I have seen two fake boliviano bank notes in two years - both were pretty poorly done copies - paper is indeed thicker - the largest bill is 200 bolivianos (and rarest) is only 25 US$ worth and most the time you deal with 10, 20, 50 bolivianos - so should someone really slip you a fake bill - your loss is not too high -

So if you get a fake note from an ATM, what do you do?? Go to the bank and complain?? If they reimbursed you it would be a great way to get rid of counterfeit bills ;)

I have gotten some very old 100 USD currency out of ATMs in Bolivia, but never any fake US though it certainly exits. I would take any suspicious currency right into the bank with your receipt and they should change this, they have with me everytime. I have only seen posts saying this was a problem with Peru ATMs though I'm not positive this is only a problem there. Keimbeggra is right on about the currency of Bolivia, most isn't worth copying for any professional so they aren't great quality, besides they would have to crumple the bills up and wear them out, tear them up and then tape them together to pass as genuine currency. You really want to avoid getting the 200 Bolivianos mostly as they are a pain in the ass to cash. No one wants to change larger Bolivian currency and they are about worthless other than spending on hotel or a luxury items.

I got a fake $50 (American), looked damn real. The difference is in the reflective numbers in the corners. If it's fake, it's not as reflective and doesn't change color when you move it in the light. Also the little silver eagle shield thingy at the bottom near the middle should be a bit sparkly, if it's opaque, then it's fake. Also got a counterfeit $20 out of an ATM from Banco Mercantil Santa Cruz, don't even think of trying to take it in and complain cuz they will just retain it and you're out a great souvenir or if you don't have a guilty conscience, $20 you could have passed off on someone else ; ). There are many bills where one side is fake and the other is real, you can tell in these cases by the fact that the watermark looks like a cartoon character, not so well drawn. As i run a business, I see at least one or two counterfeit bills a week. You can buy a good detector that works for Bs. and $$ for Bs. 60 and is the size of a flash drive, if you ask around where they sell little electronic gadgets like calculators and stuff you should be able to find one.

The US government decided to change the USD 5 bill though they originally weren't going to bother with this. It was found that the counterfeiters were bleaching the USD 5 and using the paer to then make a much larger denomination bill. Looks much more genuine. Sorry to hear that ANY counterfeit is showing up in Bolivian ATMs now. This is the first post I've seen this. The problems I've had were just incredibly old bills and the bank would change these. Sounds like it's now the unaccountable game.

Ah, that should be ..using the paper.