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 on Monday. 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.
“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.
Last year, some major fraud cases in which sellers of luxury goods such as jewelry, watches and cars were foisted with false 200s and 500s drove the numbers up. 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 Almost 115,900 pieces were withdrawn from circulation, compared to just under 73,400 the year before. The Bundesbank explains this primarily by the fact 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 last year also rose significantly by 24.2 percent to 467,000. On average, there were 14 counterfeit notes for every 10,000 inhabitants. The volume of damage increased year-on-year from 21.5 million euros to 25 million euros. (dpa)