The number of euro coins withdrawn from circulation because fake is still limited but constantly growing. The figures of the European Central Bank (ECB) speak of some 96,000 coins withdrawn in 2005, in comparison with 74,564 in 2004 and “only” 26,191 in 2003. The situation is not thought unduly worrying by the banking and judicial authorities of the 25, given that there over 63 billion genuine coins in circulation. Since the introduction of the Euro, the some 200,000 counterfeit coins seized are in the main 2 Euro coins, mainly in their German, French, Spanish and Belgian versions. So far eleven counterfeiting laboratories have been discovered by the police. Far more serious, on the other hand, is the situation of banknotes, for which the latest official figures are awaited. According to the ECB, over 286,000 counterfeit banknotes were withdrawn from circulation in the second half of 2005 alone. http://europa.eu.int/comm/anti_fraud/pages_euro/index_fr.html
