Euro counterfeits on the increase

The European Central Bank has warned eurozone citizens to thoroughly scrutinise their hard-earned cash and to be on the lookout for counterfeits which are increasing in number.

Although still considered to be minimal in relation to more than €12 billion notes currently in circulation, a report released by the bank shows that the amount of false euro notes is on the increase.

In 2009 a total of 860,000 false notes were seized by police authorities all over the EU, an increase of 22 per cent over the previous year. No information was given on where or from which countries the false notes were seized.

The most popular counterfeited euro note in 2009 was the €20 denomination which amounted to 47 per cent of all the false notes found in circulation. The €50 note was also popular with fraudsters (39 per cent) followed by the €100 note (11 per cent). On the other hand, it seems safer to have a fiver or a €500 note in your wallet as only 0.5 per cent of all the false banknotes found are of these denominations.

On the other hand, false euro-coins are also being minted although according to a separate report issued by the European Commission, this time their number is on the way down.

The number of counterfeit euro coins removed from circulation in 2009 decreased by 12 per cent compared with the year before. In 2009, a total of 172,000 false coins were seized against almost 200,000 in 2008.

However, the evolution per denomination is contrasted.

While the number of €2 counterfeits decreased by almost 18 per cent over 2008, the numbers for 50 cent and €1 continued to increase, by nine per cent and eight per cent, respectively. The €2 denomination remains by far the most counterfeited euro coin, representing almost three out of every four counterfeit euro coins.

Despite this data, the European Commission said that it considers that counterfeit euro coins are still not a significant cause of concern for the public as the overall number is very small by comparison with the total number of around 15 billion genuine euro coins of the three highest denominations put into circulation.

The data for 2009 shows that there was only one counterfeit for every 89,000 genuine coins.

The number of detected counterfeits is also lower than the sum of counterfeit coins in the eurozone countries before the introduction of the euro.

Brussels said that these counterfeit coins, while increasingly sophisticated, should generally be rejected by properly adjusted vending and other coin-operated machines.