Wrong five hundred
5.1 million euros of counterfeit money seized in 2023
January 29, 2024, 12:18 p.m
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The Bundesbank will remove more than 56,000 flowers from circulation in 2023. False fifties most common. However, fraudsters are also increasingly using 200 and 500 euro notes to defraud car dealerships and watch sellers on a large scale. But coins are also extremely popular with counterfeiters.
Counterfeiters in Germany and Europe brought significantly more flowers to the people last year. Police, retailers and banks withdrew almost 56,600 counterfeit euro banknotes from circulation in Germany, the Bundesbank announced. That was a good 28 percent more than a year before. “The increase in the number of counterfeit money is due to a few larger cases of fraud, primarily involving counterfeit 200 and 500 euro banknotes,” explained Bundesbank board member Burkhard Balz. According to the Bundesbank, 8,763 counterfeit 200s were seized, compared to 2,396 a year earlier. The number of 500-euro counterfeits increased from 989 to 2,641.
But “despite the significantly higher number of counterfeits, the risk for normal citizens of coming into contact with counterfeit money is still low,” emphasized Balz. According to calculations by the Bundesbank, on average there would be seven counterfeit banknotes for every 10,000 inhabitants in Germany in 2023. “The numbers are far away from the all-time high of 2015,” said Balz. At that time, 95,400 flowers were taken out of circulation in Germany.
Large bills and lots of counterfeit coins
Last year, a number of major fraud cases involving false 200s and 500s being foisted on sellers of luxury goods such as jewelry, watches and cars drove up the numbers. As a result, the amount of damage almost doubled from 2.7 million euros in 2022 to 5.1 million euros last year. The highest calculated damage caused by counterfeit money in Germany occurred in 2004 at 6.1 million euros. Although production and issuance of the 500 euro banknote was stopped in 2019, the purple notes still in circulation are still legal tender.
The Bundesbank also recorded a significant increase in counterfeit coins in 2023. Almost 115,900 units were taken out of circulation, compared to just under 73,400 a year earlier. The Bundesbank explains this primarily by saying that some companies collected suspicious hard money over a long period of time and only submitted it to the Bundesbank last year. In addition, counterfeit 2 euro coins were increasingly appearing.
In Europe as a whole, the number of Euro flowers seized also rose significantly last year by 24.2 percent to 467,000. On average, there were 14 counterfeit notes per 10,000 residents. The volume of damage increased year-on-year from EUR 21.5 million to EUR 25 million.