First, it is important to verify the authenticity of the banknote by examining the security features. If after having evaluated the banknote, you continue to have doubts about its authenticity, you can go to any bank and ask request bank personnel to evaluate it.

If the cashier determines that the banknote is counterfeit, based on articles 19 and 20 of Mexico's monetary law(*), the following actions will be taken:
 

The cashier will retain the banknote to prevent its circulation.

The cashier will give you a receipt (*) on which data on the banknote should be recorded (denomination, folio number, series, and date of issuance), as well as information on the person handing it in (name, address, telephone number), in order to notify him or her of the result of the evaluation.

The cashier will send the banknote to Banco de México for an evaluation.

No person is allowed to destroy, perforate or put a mark on a banknote because it is presumably counterfeit. The only entity allowed to issue a definitive decision on authenticity is Banco de México. However, as far as national banknotes are concerned, they might be sealed by the cashier in front of the customer. Such seal must fulfill the conditions established by Banco de México (*).

Banco de México will deliver the results in writing to the credit institution that retained the banknote, with two possibilities:
 

If the banknote is authentic, its corresponding value will be reimbursed through that institution.

If the banknote is counterfeit or has been altered, it will remain in the custody of Banco de México, and you will not recover its value, because the note is actually a piece of paper with no monetary value.
 

In any case, the credit institution is required to inform you of the result of the process.

Do not attempt to put the banknote into circulation. The manufacture, warehousing, and distribution of counterfeit money is a crime that is punished with up to 12 years of imprisonment (Articles 234 al 238 of the Federal Penal Code (*)).

For more information on presumably counterfeit money, please contact Banco de México at the following telephone numbers:

In the Federal District and metropolitan area: +52 (55) 5268.8589 and 5268.8590.
Elsewhere in Mexico: 01 800 228 09 00.

You can also send an e-mail to: labquim@banxico.org.mx