Online rumors about fake banknote operation dispelled

The People's Bank of China dispelled an online rumor of an insider privately printing huge quantities of banknotes on its official Weibo account on Wednesday and has reported the matter to police.

The rumor, started by a woman surnamed Wen holding two 100-yuan banknotes printed in 1990 with the same codes, both being identified as authentic by a bank, began to go viral on Tuesday on several social media platforms.

The rumor developed later in the day that Chen Yaoming, an executive from the China Bank Note Printing and Minting Corporation, surrendered himself to police for printing 2 trillion yuan (US$313.8 billion) of banknotes with duplicate numbers. It soon became a trending topic on Tuesday evening.

An official from the monetary gold and silver bureau of the People's Bank of China said that the printing and issuance of RMB notes abide by strict working procedures and technical standards.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced on December 8 that Chen Yaoming, Party committee member and director of the China Bank Note Printing and Minting Corporation, is currently under investigation for serious legal violations. Further details have not been released at this point.

Some netizens pointed out that the person creating the rumor didn't have common sense and had not even considered how heavy the huge quantities of banknotes are and how much space they would occupy. The violation of the law doesn't necessarily equate to printing banknotes in private, as the netizen put.

It's not the first time that the People's Bank of China has come out to refute a rumor. Rumormongers previously spreading false news about a cut in reserve requirement ratio and interest have been detained by police.