Roofies, Counterfeit Money, and Firearms

I’m used to seeing ads for fake IDs everywhere in China (sometimes as a stamp, sometimes just written in permanent black marker, nothing more than the word 办证 and a phone number), but I was surprised by this ad. I encountered it in a public restroom near Mogan Shan (莫干山):

Illegal Stuff

The ad is the black stamp on the “step closer to the urinal” PSA, and it’s selling three things:

迷药 (something like roofies)
假币 (counterfeit money)
枪支 (firearms)

All of these, obviously, are highly illegal in China. I’m not sure how such a brazen method of advertising illegal goods can be pulled off (even outside the big city).

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John Pasden

John is a Shanghai-based linguist and entrepreneur, founder of AllSet Learning.

Comments

  1. Do you think it could be a prank? If they’re serious, I guess it’s one of those go big or go home situations; if you’re going to sell illegals, may as well sell all of them, right?

  2. Haven’t seen counterfeit money in forever. Also, I didn’t know China had a problem with men standing back and splashing the whole area. I thought the bathrooms stank because they never use soap and bleach to clean them. They just rinse with plain water and wonder why the stench never leaves.

  3. MisterT Says: June 5, 2015 at 3:53 am

    I’ve seen counterfeit money in the last 12 months in Beijing.

    But my guess on this advertisement is that it’s a scam – I doubt some would-be criminal will actually end up buying a firearm.

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