In nine federal states and in other European countries, the authorities searched apartments for suspected counterfeiting on the Darknet. According to investigators, there were raids in Germany in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein.
In addition, police officers also searched various buildings in France, Greece, Luxembourg, Ireland, Austria and Spain, as reported by the Attorney General in Frankfurt am Main and the Federal Criminal Police Office. According to the report, 20 suspects between the ages of 15 and 59 have obtained counterfeit money on illegal platforms on the Darknet.
The Darknet is a part of the Internet that cannot be reached in the usual way. Darknet data is usually transmitted in encrypted form, which makes monitoring considerably more difficult for investigators (you can find out more here).
The searches in Germany were a joint action by the Central Office to Combat Internet Crime and the Federal Criminal Police Office. Among other things, counterfeit money, computers, narcotics and counterfeit IDs were seized, and no arrests were made.
The suspects are said to have obtained the counterfeit money between December 2018 and July 2019. According to the information, these were 50 and 10 euro notes. The fake bills were made in Portugal, and five suspected manufacturers and sellers were arrested in the summer.