Counterfeiting

Even if political and monetary reforms had a major impact during the second half of the 20th century, the main reason for issuing new banknote series or an upgrade has been the security enhancement of the notes. The constant efforts of the industry have provided good opportunities for this. The issuers can select between various substrates and use several different optically variable features to make the reproduction of the notes difficult.

Elsewhere on the Web provides weekly updates and links to articles related to cash and money, curated on the web. Last week, the focus was on how the Ukraine war triggered a run on cash in neighbouring countries.

Elsewhere on the Web provides weekly updates and links to articles related to cash and money, curated on the web. Last week, the future of money was a hot topic, and several Latin-American banknotes were rewarded for their excellence in design and security.

The number of euro banknotes in circulation has increased fourfold since the launch of the physical currency in 2002 to reach 28 billion pieces at the end of 2021. Meanwhile, the number of counterfeits in relation to the total volume of banknotes in circulation has decreased more than fourfold.

The number of counterfeit euro banknotes withdrawn from circulation in 2020, has dropped by 17.7% in a year and has reached a historically low level in proportion to banknotes in circulation.

ECB figures show that the number of counterfeits dropped by 16.5% in the first half of 2019, compared to the same period in 2018.

First of a kind, Israel sues two criminals convicted of counterfeiting tens of thousands 200 shekel notes.

The Bank of England is seeking to enforce the detection of counterfeit banknotes through the Banknote Checking Scheme. This initiative is designed to strengthen the cooperation between retailers and the central bank to identify counterfeit notes.

The number of counterfeit euro notes seized in the first half of 2017 decreased compared to the second half of 2016.

Banknote designers resort to neuroscience to better understand people's perception of security features and elaborate notes that catch the attention.

The number or euro counterfeits declined by 24% in 2016. The €20 and €50 account for 80.3% of counterfeits.

Deutsche Bank Research shows that abolishing cash would not eliminate crime.