Guangdong police have confirmed that fake banknotes with serial numbers prefixed by "HD90" were made in the province's eastern region.

Two fake banknotes with serial numbers prefixed by "HD90" (cnsphoto)

Police have warned that anyone who knowingly uses the fakes will be detained and those caught using them three times may be charged with fraud, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported today.

Qian Bo, vice director of Guangdong Public Security Bureau's economic crime investigation department, said the counterfeiter ringleaders had been identified as natives of Chaoshan area in Guangdong.

Chaoshan has the most fake banknote rings, according to the report, as it is located along the coast and is close to Taiwan, police said.

The equipment used to make the fake notes came from Jiangxi Province and takes seven to 10 days to finish a new batch, the report said.

Police have broken up several rings from Chaoshan areas this year during a national campaign called "Action 09" to crack down on producing, selling and spending fake notes.

The Supreme People's Court announced on July 31 that it had approved the death penalty for two Chaoshan farmers, Xu Shaorong and Zhu Yingwu, for producing fake notes with an accumulated face value of more than 90 million yuan (US.24 million) from 2004.

Guangdong Province is offering rewards of up to 200,000 yuan for information about fake notes infringements.