Most popular "flower": the 50-euro bill
In Germany, police recorded around 60,800 counterfeit crimes in 2014, almost 60% more than in 2013 (around 38,300 cases). In almost 60,000 of these cases, euro notes were counterfeited and distributed, as recently reported by the Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany.
A total of just under 76,000 counterfeit euro notes with a face value of €5.3 million were detected in Germany. Despite the increased number of cases, the volume of counterfeit money continues to be low compared with the volume of around 6.8 billion banknotes in circulation in Germany.
The preferred counterfeit is the 50-euro banknote. With a share of over 45% (34,448 counterfeits), it ranks first among the counterfeit euro notes registered in Germany last year.
The €20 banknote follows in second place with a share of just under 32%. The professionally produced and distributed counterfeits come from Eastern and Southern Europe, primarily Italy.
Counterfeit money is increasingly being distributed by organized groups and sold on the Internet on illegal trading platforms. The Internet is also used to offer counterfeit holograms, which are placed in particular on counterfeit 50-euro notes, thus enhancing the value of these forgeries.
In the course of police investigations, it was found that young offenders in particular are increasingly obtaining counterfeit money via the Internet and subsequently distributing it. In this context, the BKA points out that counterfeiting offenses are not trivial offenses, but can result in sentences of imprisonment.
In the EU member states as a whole, the volume of counterfeit euro banknotes increased by 216 percent compared with the previous year. The European Central Bank registered 1,650,479 counterfeit euro banknotes with a face value of around 93.5 million euros. This sharp increase is due in particular to large-scale police seizures in Italy and Romania.
Further details, for example on the detection of counterfeit money or on the volume of counterfeit coins in 2014, as well as the situation reports of the past few years, are here (under Annual Reports & Situation Reports).
