820,000 bogus S. Korean coins seized in Japan in 1999

Asian Economic News, Jan 24, 2000

TOKYO, Jan. 19 Kyodo

About 820,000 fake South Korean 500 won coins were seized in Japan last year after they were used as 500 yen coins in vending machines, the National Police Agency (NPA) said Wednesday.

Police handled 54,000 cases of fake 500 yen coin use last year, up from 18,500 in 1998, the agency said. One yen is equivalent to 10.5 won.

To combat the forgery, the Finance Ministry will change the surface and material properties of new 500 yen coins beginning in August. The agency has requested businesses to develop and introduce counterfeit-proof vending machines.

After the surfaces of the 500 won coins were scraped off and other changes were made so their weight equaled that of 500 yen coins, the counterfeits were used in vending machines to push a reset button and steal "returned" 500 yen coins, according to the NPA.

In 1996, police handled about 100 cases of fake 500 yen and confiscated about 300 500 won coins.

The use of fake 500 yen coins started to jump next year.

Police reported handling 11,100 cases of fake 500 yen coins in 1997 and confiscated 165,500 500 won coins. In 1998, 273,500 500 won coins were confiscated, the NPA said.

Last year, police also handled 1,200 cases involving 100 won coins, and 180 cases involving coins from Iran, Hungary and other countries.