Counterfeit prevention
Counterfeiting is a global phenomenon, and is a criminal offence with an ancient history. The development of increasingly sophisticated technology is allowing counterfeiters to be more active both in Slovenia and elsewhere around the world. Every year counterfeit money is found in Slovenia, and the most likely victims are individuals who fail to closely examine the cash they are given or who are insufficiently familiar with the basic features of genuine banknotes.
European System of Cental Banks - ESCB is constantly endeavouring to protect banknotes against counterfeiting by building in a great number of new, high-quality security features that at least make it more difficult to counterfeit banknotes, if not actually prevent it. The assumption here is that the security markings must allow users to recognise that the banknotes they conduct their everyday business with are genuine without needing to use technical equipment.
More information on ECB web pages Secutity features and Anti-counterfeiting.
Information on euro banknote counterfeiting - Eurosystem
On 30 January 2023, the European Central Bank published information on euro banknote counterfeiting in 2022.
Some 376,000 counterfeit euro banknotes were withdrawn from circulation in 2022, an increase by 8.4% when compared with 2021. In 2022, 13 counterfeits were detected per 1 million genuine banknotes in circulation, which is the second-smallest proportion since the introduction of euro banknotes.
Table 1: Counterfeited euro banknotes in 2022
|
Denomination |
€ 5 |
€ 10 |
€ 20 |
€ 50 |
€ 100 |
€ 200 |
€ 500 |
Total |
|
Proportion (in%) |
2.3 |
15.4 |
23.6 |
40.0 |
11.6 |
5.4 |
1.7 |
100 |
The €20 and €50 notes continued to be the most counterfeited banknotes, jointly accounting around two-thirds of the total. Most (96.6 %) of the counterfeits were found in euro area countries.
Slovenia
In the year 2022, comparing to 2021, there was an increase in the number of counterfeited euro banknotes and in the number of counterfeited euro coins, removed from circulation.
The number of counterfeited euro banknotes withdrawn from circulation in 2022 was 59.2 % higher, comparing to 2021, the number of counterfeit euro coins increased by 155.3 % in 2022, compared to 2021. In spite of the higher number of counterfeits, their total value decreased by 9 %, comparing to 2021.
For euro banknotes, counterfeits were the most common for the value of € 50, € 100 and € 20, while among the coins the most counterfeited coin was for € 2. Comparison of Eurosystem data in this area places Slovenia in the lower half of the countries by the number of detected banknote counterfeits.
Table 2: Denomination breakdown of euro banknote counterfeits, removed from circulation in 2022 in Slovenia
|
Denomination |
€ 5 |
€ 10 |
€ 20 |
€ 50 |
€ 100 |
€ 200 |
€ 500 |
Total |
|
Quantity |
12 |
50 |
234 |
452 |
149 |
34 |
21 |
952 |
|
Proportion (in%) |
1.3 |
5.2 |
24.6 |
47.5 |
15.6 |
3.6 |
2.2 |
100 |
|
Denomination |
€ 0.50 |
€ 1 |
€ 2 |
Total |
|
Quantity |
142 |
335 |
5,843 |
6,320 |
|
Proportion (in %) |
2.2 |
5.3 |
92.5 |
100 |
Considering the number of net genuine euro banknotes and coins issued, the proportion of counterfeits between cash in circulation is very small.