'Fraudster' held after tipping with note that does not exist
Malaysian police arrested a Lebanese man allegedly carrying fake currency with a face value of $66m (€46m) after he tipped a hotel staff with a $500 note, news reports said.
The largest US note currently in circulation is a $100 bill.
But police found bundles of $1m, $100,000 and $500 notes in the man’s hotel room in Kuala Lumpur, the New Straits Times and The Star newspapers reported.
Hotel staff reportedly alerted police Sunday after a housekeeper received a $500 note tip and found out it was fake when she tried to convert it to local currency at a money changer.
The man could be charged for possessing counterfeit money and, if found guilty, face up to 10 years in jail, The Star said. A police spokesman could not immediately give further details.
The largest US note ever printed was a special edition one for $100,000 in 1934. Bills of $500 were last printed in 1945 and are now no longer in wide circulation, according to the US Treasury Department.
This is not the first time the man has been in trouble with the law in Malaysia, the reports said.
A Malaysian court charged him last week with cheating over the sale of office supplies in 2005 in a separate case. Cheating, or fraud, carries a maximum penalty of five years.
