Beware of 50 and 20 euro banknotes: counterfeiters are targeting them. A recent report of the European Central Bank, presented in Frankfurt (where the bank is based) and in Brussels, warns professionals in the banking and financial sector, and also shopkeepers and families of the threat. In the first quarter of 2004, a total of 307,223 counterfeit banknotes were withdrawn from circulation in the twelve countries of the eurozone. The experts of the ECB explain that this volume is “similar to that registered in the second half of 2003”. The same report however reassures consumers and shopkeepers, given that, “due to their quality and the safety features built into them”, euro banknotes can only be counterfeited with poor results: a modest level of attention would therefore be enough when handling 10, 20, 50 or 100 euro notes. “The denomination preferred by counterfeiters is one whose purchasing power is fairly high, but which has at the same time a high circulation and is therefore not subjected to strict controls. So the 50 euro denomination is the one most frequently found among counterfeit banknotes: 133,921 banknotes withdrawn, equivalent to 43.6% of the total. It is followed by the 20 euro note, with 86,671 banknotes removed from circulation. The 100 euro notes are also frequently forged: 65,393 banknotes impounded, followed in turn by 200, 10 and 5 euro notes”. Last comes “the 500 euro denomination note, of which only 1,136 have been withdrawn, representing 0.4% of the total”. The majority of counterfeit banknotes “can be easily distinguished from genuine notes, using the simple test furnished by the European monetary institutions. The method is based on three keywords: ‘touch, look, move'”. The experts explain that “the banknote should be brushed with the fingertips, to feel its relief texture; it should be inspected against the light, to identify its watermark; and it should be observed from various angles, to check whether the hologram is there, i.e. the changing image to the right of the main side of every note”.
