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More and more counterfeit euros

2023-08-01 18:21:00, Ekonomi CNA

The 200 euro banknotes are actually not very popular and are not used often. Many gas stations and many retail stores do not accept them at all. 500 euro banknotes are used even less often. For this reason, special care should be taken when unknown persons pay with large bundles of such banknotes.

And precisely with the 200 and 500 euro banknotes, counterfeiting of money in Germany has increased in the first half of this year. The damage caused of 2.9 million euros in just six months has exceeded the value of the entire last year (2.7 million euros), the Bundesbank announced.

A record number of counterfeit euros

According to data from the Bundesbank, German police, retailers and banks withdrew 26,690 counterfeit banknotes from circulation between January and June 2023. The last time a higher number of counterfeits was recorded was in the first half of 2020, when 34,118 counterfeit banknotes were caught in circulation.

More and more counterfeit euros

Counterfeiting of the two most valuable banknotes has increased significantly compared to the second half of 2022. In the case of €200 notes in the total number of counterfeits, there is an increase of 15 percent - after nine percent in the previous six months . While the number of counterfeit 500 euro banknotes in the same period almost quadrupled, from 554 to 2,178 pieces. Thus, the purple banknote, which the central banks of the Eurosystem have not printed since the beginning of 2019, has marked a noticeable increase in counterfeits.

"I would not talk about any trends at the moment," Bundesbank board member Burkhard Balz said in a statement to the dpa news agency. "However, we follow these phenomena very carefully".

According to data from the Bundesbank, the €50 note is still the most counterfeited note, accounting for almost 40 percent of all counterfeit money in Germany. While 20 percent of counterfeits in the first half of the year were 20 euro banknotes.

Counterfeit banknotes to buy luxury goods

The quality of the 200 and 500 euro banknotes, Bundesbank experts point out, is not that good. They resemble the simple "Movie Money" or "Prop copy" receipts that can be found online as game money or movie props, Balz says. According to the police, in some cases jewelry, gold, luxury watches and expensive cars were paid for with such banknotes.

Bundesbank board member Balz sees no cause for concern because the figures are still relatively low: "Despite the increase in the number of these banknotes by around ten percent, the situation with counterfeiting has basically not changed much."

More and more counterfeit euros

According to him, there is still a low risk in Germany when it comes to counterfeit banknote fraud. Looking at the statistical data, in the first half of this year, only six counterfeit banknotes were registered per 10,000 inhabitants.

Careful!

Counterfeit banknotes will not be exchanged. This is why the Bundesbank recommends checking the banknotes and taking special care with them. For example, parts of the printed image can be felt under the fingers on the front of the banknotes. The elements of the hologram vary. It is also recommended to compare a suspicious banknote with one that is definitely genuine and always pay attention to certain security features.

Modern security features of the new series of banknotes

Those responsible for the euro currency are already working on new security features to make it even harder for criminals to counterfeit the banknotes. European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board member Fabio Panetta said in an interview at the end of May: "We are working on issuing a new series of high-tech banknotes to prevent counterfeiting."

During the creation of the new series of banknotes, the ECB allows the citizens of Europe to have their say on the redesign of the banknotes: Europeans can have their say until the end of August this year. For example: European culture, birds, rivers or hands can be selected. However, it will take a few more years until these banknotes reach the hands of citizens./ DW