Experts give tips

Counterfeit money will soon be back to pre-pandemic levels

(Bild: Nitschmann, Hans-Joachim)

10,213 counterfeit banknotes were seized last year. This corresponds to an increase of around 30 percent compared to 2023. The volume of counterfeit money is thus approaching the longstanding pre-corona level, the Austrian National Bank (OeNB) reported on Friday. 

Although there was a stronger increase in counterfeits in January and February 2024, the number of counterfeits remained at the long-term average over the rest of the year. According to the published data, the 50 euro banknote accounted for the largest share (41.7 percent) of counterfeits seized in Austria in 2024 with 4258 pieces.

More than two million euro banknotes
This was followed by the 100 euro bill (2520 bills, 24.7 percent) and the 20 euro bill (2154 notes, 21.1 percent). If one compares the number of counterfeits in circulation (10,213) with the more than two million euro banknotes that were checked for authenticity and fitness for circulation by the OeNB, Geldservice Austria (GSA) and commercial banks in Austria in 2024, only one in 255,000 banknotes was actually a counterfeit, the OeNB emphasized.

Cash is still considered the "safest means of payment"
Cash remains "the safest means of payment", as the OeNB emphasized. "It protects against phishing, cybercrime and internet fraud," it said in a press release. "If one compares the fraud value of cash and non-cash payments, the misuse of cards and account data for transfers amounts to a mid-double-digit million figure. This contrasts with the fraud value of counterfeit money amounting to several hundred thousand euros."

"Feel - see - tip"
In this context, reference was again made to the security features of the euro banknotes and the standard three test steps "feel - see - tilt". A new series of banknotes is already being developed in order to continue to guarantee protection against counterfeiting.