€ 28 mio. fake banknotes seized. Our measures against counterfeits

During the investigation three underground printworks, including one in Romania, were discovered equipped with the machines and instruments needed to manufacture counterfeit banknotes (see pictures below).

The counterfeiters were setting up short-term presses to make counterfeit banknotes for 10 to 15 days, then they stopped the work, and sometimes transferred the entire print shop to another building. Police said that in total 939’775 banknotes of € 10, € 20 and € 50 were printed.

Earlier the Bank of Italy reported that it seized nearly 75’000 fake banknotes in the first half of 2017. According to the Bank of Italy, most of the fake banknotes are in denominations of € 20 (47.6 % of the total) or € 50 (37 % of the total). Lower denominations make less sense because the work to counterfeit them is the same and it’s worth less and larger notes worth € 100 or € 200 are scrutinized much more.

Although the gross of the 1 million fake banknotes are mainly produced in Romania over the past two years, Italian crime syndicates can still be traced and are mainly responsible for the production of counterfeit banknotes.

In order to fight this negative events, the Eurosystem central banks have created a computerized system for the collection and monitoring of data on counterfeits (the Counterfeit Monitoring System) and organizational arrangements for bodies operating in each member state. The ECB and the national central banks (NCBs) of the Eurosystem adopted on 16 September 2016.

Decision ECB/2010/14 on the authenticity and fitness checking and recirculation of euro banknotes, which became applicable on January 1 Decision ECB/2010/14 lays down the procedures referred to in Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1338/2001, with which cash handlers have to comply when checking euro banknotes for authenticity and fitness.

Also for CI Tech Components it’s one of the main concerns to offer its customers and their end-customers the best possible protection against counterfeits. The following measures are taken by CI Tech:

Preventive measures:
 

• Analysis and simulation of potential counterfeit risks

• Analysis of state of the art counterfeits from circulation

• Close cooperation with national central banks and federal police

Active measures:
 

• CI Note Line product family: Regular successful attainment of the ECB (EC) No 1338/2001 Article 6 authenticity and fitness certification with the latest test deck including the new € 20 & € 50

• CI Note Line product family & CashRay 90: Successful attainment of central bank certifications (e.g. Bank of England, Central bank of Russia, Bank of Greece), further certifications on customer request

• Internal currency competence center with long term experience

• Customers can 24/7 download the latest currency templates on our Online Download Portal

• Efficient and fast update process: If new counterfeits are found within the cash cycle, our currency competence center immediately updates and uploads the currency templates to the Download Portal. The customers get an automated notification about the upload and can promptly update their systems.

• Collected long term field experience and field data