The €50 accounts for half of fake euro notes
HELENA SPONGENBERG
12.07.2007 @ 09:15 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The 50 euro banknote was the most widely faked euro note in the first half of 2007, accounting for half of all fake euro notes taken out of circulation, according to the European Central Bank.
In total, the Frankfurt-based bank withdrew 265,000 fake euro banknotes from circulation in the first half of 2007 – the same as in the second half of 2006 – it announced in a biannual statement on Wednesday (11 July).
However, fakes make up a small proportion of the total number of banknotes in circulation, the ECB said, calculating that there was an average of 11 million genuine banknotes in circulation across the 13 euro zone countries between January and July this year.
The 100 euro note accounted for 20% of the fake notes, while the 20 euro note accounted for 15%.
The smallest and the largest denominations were the least faked, with the five euro note and the 500 euro note accounting for a mere 1% of the total.
Meanwhile, 10% of the fakes were 200 euro notes and 3% were 10 euro notes.
The overwhelming majority - 97% - of counterfeits recovered in the first half of 2007 were found in euro area countries. About 3% came from EU member states outside the euro zone and only a very small number from the other parts of the world.
Counterfeits can be easily distinguished from genuine banknotes by using the simple and so-called "feel-look-tilt" test to reveal the note's security features.
In the test, one can feel that the ink is thicker in some places than others on the note.
Looking at the note up against the light will reveal watermarks. And if one tilts the bank note, the hologram image on the hologram patch will change between the value and a window or doorway.
"The public can have confidence in the quality of euro banknotes and their security features," the ECB concluded.
