A 32-year-old man surnamed Chang in Taoyuan County suddenly got the strange idea of passing off a fake NT$1,000-dollar joss paper bill — typically burned to appease ghosts in the afterlife — as an actual NT$1,000 note. After paying a female betel-nut stand attendant surnamed Yang at the Sweetheart Betel Nut Stand in Guanyin Township with the counterfeit bill, she gave him NT$950 in change. Yang eventually discovered she was given a joss paper note, and was so perturbed that she decided to report it to the police. The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office brought up charges of fraud against Chang on Aug. 4.
Chang rode his scooter to the betel-nut stand in Guanyin Township on March 25 and purchased NT$50 worth of betel nuts. He handed a crumpled NT$1,000 joss paper note to Yang in an attempt to pass it off as an actual NT$1,000 note, and Yang gave him NT$950 in change.
When prosecutors questioned Chang, he said that the ghost money had been mixed together with real paper money in his pocket. Chang says that he accidentally pulled out the joss paper to pay for the betel nut and did not intentionally use the fake NT$1,000 ghost money to trick her into giving him real money in return.
Photo: Yu Jui-jen, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者余瑞仁
The NT$1,000 joss paper note used by the suspect had the words “money for the underworld,” “underworld bank” and “underworld engraving and printing plant” printed on it along with images of the bodhisattva Ksitigarbha and a lotus throne, says the prosecution, adding that similar ghost money can be purchased at any traditional incense shop.
Chang intentionally wadded up the ghost money before using it to pay, apparently trying to fob it off as real money to trick the attendant. The busy betel-nut beauty Yang was too preoccupied to immediately notice what had gone down, causing her to fall for the trick and give Chang NT$950 in change. After Chang prevailed in the hoax he immediately drove off on his scooter.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
Photo: Huang Mei-chu, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者黃美珠
桃園縣三十二歲張姓男子突發奇想，竟將燒給往生者使用的千元「冥幣」，充當新台幣千元鈔，到觀音鄉「甜心檳榔攤」詐財，楊姓檳榔西施找新台幣九百五十元給對方，事後發現是張冥紙，氣得報警，桃園地檢署八月四日依詐欺罪嫌將張男起訴。
張男今年三月二十五日騎機車到觀音鄉「甜心檳榔攤」購買新台幣五十元檳榔，他以折疊、捏握方式，將一張千元「冥幣」當成千元鈔交給楊姓檳榔西施，楊女找新台幣九百五十元給對方。
檢方調查時，張男聲稱把「冥幣」與真鈔一起放進口袋，買檳榔時不小心掏錯了，並非刻意用「冥幣」混充千元鈔找零詐財。
檢方則認為，張男涉嫌使用的「冥幣」為「千元面額」，上頭印有「冥地資財用」、「冥地銀行」、「冥地印製廠」，且有地藏王菩薩、蓮花座等圖像，在一般香燭店都可買到。
何況張男將「冥幣」刻意折疊、用手捏握交付，顯然是企圖蒙混成真鈔詐財，楊姓檳榔西施因忙碌沒即時察覺，受騙找新台幣九百五十元，且張男得逞後立即騎車逃逸。
（自由時報記者余瑞仁）
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