A viral claim about 500 rupee notes with 'star' (an asterisk) in its serial number being fake is going viral on social media.
(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)
But these notes are not fake: These notes are legal tenders issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2006.
The asterisk (*) or star symbol is added in the STAR series of notes and is inserted in the number panel of a note that is used as replacement for defectively printed banknotes.
How did we find out the truth?: On performing a relevant keyword search on Google, we came across a report by The Hindu stating that RBI has clarified about currency notes with the star (*) symbol are identical to any other legal banknote.
We looked for RBI's statement on their official website and found it published on 27 July 2023.
The statement addressed the viral claims and clarified that any note with a star (*) symbol is a legal tender.
It added, "The Star (*) symbol is inserted in the number panel of a banknote that is used as replacement for defectively printed banknotes in a packet of 100 pieces of serially numbered banknotes."
The Bank also shared this press release in a tweet.
Another page on RBI's website about banknotes also carried a section about notes under STAR series.
It stated that fresh banknotes issued by RBI till August 2006 were serially numbered and the Bank adopted the "STAR series" numbering system for replacement of defectively printed banknotes.
It also stated that these notes with 'star' are exactly similar to other banknotes, but have an additional character, a star (*) in the number panel in the space between the prefix.
In 2006, RBI had shared a press release about issuing notes under this series.
It clearly states that notes under the Star series will be legal tender and people can freely use these banknotes.
Conclusion: A false claim about 500 rupees with 'star' in their serial numbers are fake goes viral.
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