"Two-euro coins and 20-euro denomination banknotes are gaining favour with forgers, new figures showed on Friday.
The European Commission said the number of fake euro coins detected rose 28 percent in 2005 from 2004, although the number of forgeries was tiny compared to the mass of coins in circulation."
"Two-euro coins, the highest denomination, were the fakers' favourite, making up 83 percent of the almost 96,000 coins withdrawn from circulation last year, more than half of them in Germany.
Separately, the European Central Bank reported the number of forged bank notes traced in 2005 fell 2.5 percent, but the number of 20-euro notes in the haul rose sharply in the second half of the year.
Twenty-euro notes made up 28 percent of the forgeries withdrawn from circulation between July and December, compared to 16 percent in the first half of the year.
But 50-euro notes remained the forgers' number one pick, making up more than half the 579,000 counterfeit notes identified in 2005.
Forgers tend to concentrate their efforts on popular denominations which also provide a high return. There are more than 10 billion euro banknotes and 63 billion euro coins in circulation.
The European Commission said of the 12 countries using the single currency, German coins were the most frequently reproduced, followed by those of France, Spain, Belgium and Italy. Germany's Bundesbank said the number of fake coins detected in Germany hit a record half-year high in the last six months of 2005, more than 95 percent 2-euro coins. But overall, the number of counterfeit coins detected in 2005 was lower than in 2004. The Bundesbank said members of the public could use a magnet to help test if one and two-euro coins were genuine. If the coins did not stick to the magnet, or stuck very tightly, they were fakes. Real coins were attracted to magnets but could be easily removed.
The ECB recommended the public follow the tests laid out on its Web site (www.ecb.int) to help identify counterfeit banknotes."
Source: reuters
16.01.2006