Counterfeit money: Counterfeiters are also suffering from the corona pandemic

Counterfeit 30 Euro note: Not all counterfeits are so easy to spot

Photo: DPA/ Police

There was significantly less counterfeit money in circulation last year than before.

This emerges from a report by the Bundesbank.

"Corona not only harms honest people, Corona also makes life more difficult for counterfeiters," said Bundesbank board member Johannes Beermann at a press conference.

The corona restrictions often affect events where a particularly large amount of counterfeit money is distributed: folk festivals, for example, or Christmas markets, only rarely took place last year.

There were also stricter controls at national borders, which made it more difficult to import counterfeit money.

Lowest level since euro cash was introduced

Around 41,950 counterfeit euro banknotes were withdrawn from circulation by the police, retailers and banks in 2021 - 28.6 percent fewer than the year before.

The value of the seized counterfeits also fell by a good third to 1.9 million euros.

This is the lowest level since euro cash was introduced in 2002.

As in the previous year, most of the forgeries were banknotes that are offered on the Internet as play money or film props under the terms »Movie Money« or »Prop copy«.

They have no security features and are actually easily recognizable as fake bills.

After all, the share of "movie money" in the total volume of counterfeit money in Germany fell from 30 percent to almost 22 percent.

"I suspect that people are paying more attention to this now," said Bundesbank board member Beermann.

Even if the pandemic makes it difficult to sell counterfeit bills, criminals are still finding ways, for example via the dark web.

Just recently, the police searched 29 apartments in eleven federal states in connection with investigations into 27 suspects who are said to have bought counterfeit money via this hidden part of the Internet or encrypted messenger services.

Counterfeiters from NRW - and mafiosi from Italy

The number of seized counterfeits fell not only in Germany: In Europe as a whole, it was at its lowest level for almost 20 years.

Currency watchdogs and counterfeiters are in a kind of arms race: banknotes are being made more counterfeit-proof with more and more security features.

At the same time, counterfeit banknotes are getting better and better.

Last year, investigators in North Rhine-Westphalia uncovered a counterfeiting ring that had connections to the Italian mafia.

The group is said to have launched the new €100 note as a high-quality counterfeit just six months after it was issued.

jlk/dpa/Reuters