Significantly more counterfeit money in circulation

In Germany, counterfeiters brought more counterfeit banknotes to the people in 2023 – especially 200 and 500 euro notes. According to the Bundesbank, many counterfeits are poorly made and can be seen with the naked eye.

200 and 500 euro notes are no longer welcome in stores in Germany. Many gas stations and retailers do not even accept these banknotes. But these are exactly what led to an increase in counterfeit money in 2023. The Bundesbank announced this today.

Police, retailers and banks withdrew almost 56,600 banknotes from circulation in Germany last year. This is the highest value since 2018. At that time, 58,000 counterfeit banknotes were in circulation.

5.1 million euros in damage

The number of flowers also increased significantly compared to the previous year, namely by a good 28 percent. 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.

“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,” said Bundesbank board member Burkhard Balz. 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.

Risk for citizens low

“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. Although production and issuance of the 500 euro banknote was stopped in 2019, the purple notes still in circulation are still legal tender.

The quality of counterfeits does not increase

“Overall, you can say that the quality of the counterfeits has not increased,” said Balz. “On the contrary: we have a large mass of counterfeit banknotes of very low quality.” For the majority of counterfeits, a simple glance is enough to recognize them as such.

The Bundesbank also recorded a significant increase in counterfeit coins in 2023. Almost 115,900 units were withdrawn from circulation. A year earlier there were almost 73,400. 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.