This is downright discrimination, until I find out why they do this. Taiwan’s banks won’t accept US bills with certain serial numbers. That’s right. I was making a deposit of some cold hard American cash into my foreign-currency account the other day. After the teller examined all the bills, she handed back about a third of them, saying they’re not acceptable because their serial numbers begin with certain letters that the bank has deemed unacceptable. I was like, Are you kidding me?! She then handed me a list of unacceptable serial numbers (those that begin with DB, DD, DF, DH, CA, CB, CF, BB). She said if I really want to deposit them, I’ll have to pay a 25 NT “handling fee” for each bill. 
I chose not to pay and held on to the rejects. Anybody know what the rationale behind this idiotic policy is?
Counterfeiting. Not yours, just ones with similar serial numbers and dates.
Rationale is very simple, counterfeiting.
This are the serial numbers that have been counterfeited the most, i do exactly the same when receiving bills form the banks, if they start with the list i have they are returned to the bank for different notes.
Interesting that the banks can’t tell real notes from fake ones.
With some effort they probably can, but I guess it’s too much effort for your average bank teller (hence the handling fee mentioned).
That being said USD bills are the most common and easy to counterfit I think.
Has happened to me too. real pain in the ass. Taiwan Bank will take them.
there has been a spate of extremely high quality counterfeits of US$100 and US$20 from north korea, the so-called ‘super-notes’. apparently, from what i have gleaned from the BBC and some other sites, the DPRK govt has built printing plants whose sole function is the creation of these notes. they have been around for a while, and each generation gets better and better, to the point now where banks and even most money experts CANNOT distinguish them from the real deal: paper, inks, watermarks, pattern, etc. decent security tags on US banknotes are nonexistent. their only option is to ban the trading of these notes. save them and pass them off to some other stooge, or spend them in the US.
North Korea’s main source of hard currency, apart from selling ginseng and mushrooms to japan. they are disseminated by ‘businessmen’ abroad, mostly through the border with north china. other than cash factories, there are also supposed to be vast quantities of amphetamines and opiates manufactured and exported by north korea. one wonders if their aim is to generate cash by selling them, or if they simply want to ‘weaken their enemies’ by fostering addiction and money market collapse. there is some substance to these rumours, and they are partly the reason behind the recent establishment of an interdiction and boarding force that targets cargo vessels in and out bound from north korea.
link added:
nkeconwatch.com/2006/07/22/d … r-quality/
These can be exchanged at ICBC…BUT, it requires leaving them with the bank for approx 30 days while they are verified and paying an exchange %. If notes are found to be queer then you lose the US$100 and still have to pay the exchange % on that bill(s).
I found this out the hard way.
First I walk twenty blocks to the bank.
They say, “you need a passport.”
I make the round trip.
Then they say, “we dont take these serial numbers.”
I was pissed because I did such a great, detailed job making those bills… I mean , never mind.
Thanks for clearing up the mystery, guys. I will take those suspect notes back to the US on my next trip and exchange them for some “legitimate” bills. 
. . . On second thought, I might as well go on a shopping spree and splurge to my heart’s content. Why risk getting stuck with funny money, right?
I was under the impression that the recent changes to the US$ notes were supposed to make them impossible to counterfeit. Guess not.
I have heard that before (about the Euro notes).
Correct!
Just check your change though. 
Different banks do seem to have different rules on which notes are problems and which are not.
One bank wouldn’t change any japanese notes I had. I walked up the street. Not a problem. Another bank would only change some of them. I walked out. Finally found one bank that had no problem.
I had the same experience but with different currencies, too. USD not much of a problem, but GBP, Yen, S$, … not every bank is willing, not every bank takes every note. So keep trying.
Kenneth