You would have to be in a real hurry not to spot these fake banknotes - ones with the security features of Hong Kong notes, but instead of a city landmark they bear the image of three unfamiliar rocks.
The banknotes - genuine ones from Zimbabwe - had the name of a Hong Kong bank printed over them, police said in a warning to tourists and shopkeepers.
Chief Inspector Tommy Cheng Ka-wai, an expert in counterfeit notes with the commercial crime bureau, said police found similar banknotes from Uruguay and Myanmar, which were probably altered in an attempt to deceive visitors and shops.
'Anyone who is familiar with banknotes or has some general knowledge would know it is not a Hong Kong one when they see an image of three rocks,' he said.
Police had also found 10 old HK$10 banknotes that were overprinted as HK$500 notes. Visitors from the mainland or overseas probably brought them in, Cheng said.
'The shopkeepers who received the money could have been very busy and did not look [carefully]. Some tourists may not even know [they are handling fakes] when they fork out several thousand dollars in cash.' Police seized 109 genuine $1,000 notes from Zimbabwe printed with the name of Standard Chartered bank. Only a few such notes were seized in 2010, Cheng said, while two Myanmese banknotes and three from Uruguay were found last year.
But almost twice as many Hong Kong counterfeit banknotes were found last year as in 2010, Cheng said. The most common fake denomination is the HK$100 note.