While walking in a park, one morning, I found a Hundred Rupee note on one of the park benches. I picked it up, noted the number and took it home.

In the afternoon the plumber called on me to collect his bill. As I had no other moey at home, I settled his account with the Hundred Rupee note that I had found.

Later I came to know that the plumber paid the note to his milkman to settle his monthly account , who paid it to his tailor for the garments he had made.

The tailor in turn used the money to buy an old sewing machine, from a woman who lives in my neighbourhood. This woman incidentally, had borrowed Hundred Rupees from me sometime back to buy some household appliance. She, remembering that she owed me a Hundred Rupees, came and paid the debt.

I recognized the note as the one that I had found on the park bench, and on careful examination, I discovered that the note was counterfeit.

How much was lost in the whole transaction and by whom ?

The person who found the 100 Rupee note is out because the woman he loaned 100 rupees to prior to finding the counterfeit note owed him 100 rupees and because the note was fake, she still owes him the debt. However, he can't collect the debt because to do so he would have to explain to her that the note she gave him was a fake. She would then inform the person who bought the sewing machine from her that he bought it with a fake and the end result would be that he would be out 200 rupees because he would have to pay the Plumber with real rupees and she would still owe him the original 100 rupess which she was only able to pay him because she had sold her sewing machine so quickly. And he might even end up in jail for passing counterfeit bills.

Posted by Bill on 2003-03-20 12:15:25