More than 400 listings of new $20 commemorative notes appear online
The notes were being offered for marked-up prices on marketplaces like Carousell, with some asking for as much as $1,688 for five notes
More than 400 listings for a new $20 note commemorating Singapore's bicentennial appeared on online marketplaces yesterday, a day after it went on sale at banks - and quickly went out of stock at many places.
While many offers of the notes were for marked-up prices of between $25 and $40, some sellers were asking for as much as $1,688 for five notes.
One Carousell re-seller, who did not wish to be named, said she had decided to list a few of the bills for sale as she had many of them.
"If they are not sold, I will save them and give them to friends and family in red packets for special occasions," she said.
Many sellers were offering the notes with the folders they came in and listed the serial numbers of the bills.
A check by The Straits Times found 10 listings for the note on eBay and more than 400 on Carousell.
The $20 notes were launched on June 5 by President Halimah Yacob to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Singapore's founding by Sir Stamford Raffles.
Two million commemorative notes were made available across nine major retail banks in Singapore from Monday and quickly sold out at many branches.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which issued the note, had capped the number of notes each person was allowed to exchange at 20 per transaction.
When contacted, an MAS spokesman said that while the law does not prohibit a person from selling the commemorative notes online, "we encourage Singaporeans to collect the notes as keepsakes as they are a one-off issue to commemorate Singapore's Bicentennial".
Meanwhile, the police yesterday advised people to be wary of receiving counterfeit $50 and $100 Singapore currency notes.
This comes after the police received several reports between March and May of fake portrait-series notes being used at convenience stores, restaurants and retail outlets.
The portrait series is the one currently in circulation. Notes from the series feature a portrait of Singapore's first president, Mr Yusof Ishak.
Three men, aged between 25 and 29, were arrested and charged with the offences between May 25 and June 4.
The counterfeit $100 notes in these reported cases bear the serial number 3AX412083.
The fake $50 notes have the serial numbers: 0FF875629, 3DL273922, 4DZ985604, 5HS436415, 5LV797440, 5LP297324, 5CK878136 and 5JH230011.
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