France Carries Almost Half Of All Fake Euro Banknotes

The European Central Bank has recently announced the introduction of new banknotes, for the first time since the Euro was launched. The new banknotes are being introduced not for esthetical reasons, as was first speculated, but for security concerns. The new model will have a similar design but an increased security attached to its new symbol – the Greek goddess Europa. The banknotes will have a new portrait watermark, portrait hologram and an emerald number, which will be added to its existing security mechanisms.

As the news of the new banknotes flooded France’s news channels, old news re-emerged. France is the country with the largest volume of fake banknotes. 40% of an estimated total of 700,000 fake notes in circulation come from France. In the summer of 2012 the largest producer of illegal euro banknotes was discovered. The Bank of France estimates they had printed over 350,000 banknotes since 2007, amounting to nine million euros. Every year, around 30 to 40 fake note printers are dismantled in France. However, according to the European Central Bank, the number of fake banknotes in Europe is actually diminishing.

In France fake banknote are usually associated with drug trafficking and linked to neighboring Italy – where a grand majority of the notes is designed. According to French newspaper Le Monde criminals usually target small retailers like bakeries to dispose of the fake notes. Today’s fake cash is not a perfect copy but is virtually impossible to distinguish from real euros for an untrained eye.

The new series of Euro notes will be launched in January 2013 and put in circulation in May of the same year. In a first instance they will circulate alongside the old banknotes, which will be gradually withdrawn.