Counterfeit euros at record low in 2021, says ECB

Around 347,000 counterfeit euro banknotes were withdrawn from circulation in 2021, a decrease of almost 25% on the prior year, and a historic low of just 12 fakes per million notes.

The new figures from the European Central Bank (ECB) showed that once again €20 and €50 notes were the banknotes most likely to be counterfeited, jointly accounting for about two-thirds of the total.

The ECB also notes that 95.4 per cent of counterfeits were found in euro area countries, while 4.2 per cent were found in non-euro area EU member states and just 0.4 per cent in other parts of the world.

"Low-quality reproductions are continuously withdrawn from circulation, said the ECB in its update, adding that in most cases "counterfeits are easy to detect as they have no security features, or only very poor imitations of them."

The downturn in counterfeits last year came despite come high-profile seizures, including one in Romania a year ago which uncovered €450,000-worth of fake €50, €100 and €500 banknotes. That operation also uncovered machinery used to create polymer banknotes, which are supposed to be harder to copy than paper.

The EU is still using cotton fibre-based paper banknotes, with a coating to extend their lifespan, but is in the process of redesigning them with the aim of coming up with new versions in 2024.

Another large seizure took place in Bulgaria last March, netting euro banknotes worth €3.6m ($4m) as well as $4m in counterfeit US dollars.