Check your money now, you risk jail too

There are some denominations of banknotes that are at risk of being counterfeited. The European Central Bank (ECB) sounds the warning.

Counterfeit banknotes are something that worries traders a lot and not only. However, there are gods Wounds most at risk of warping More than others, and therefore it is necessary to be able to recognize this problem and pay more attention to it. The denominations of banknotes most likely to be counterfeited are from 20 And 50 euro.

In fact, the denominations of banknotes are the most traded. The European Central Bank (ECB) launched the Counterfeit Banknote Alert, which in 2022 issued 376,000 counterfeit banknotes. A truly colossal figure, which becomes even more alarming if you think about its value in euros, or 17 million. Estimating the ratio between real and counterfeit banknotes is equivalent to 13 counterfeit banknotes for every 1 million real banknotes.

Counterfeit banknotes: what the rules say

What are the chances of seeing counterfeit banknotes end up in your wallet? Well, it’s not too high, but it’s not too low either. Before making a cash payment, you must check each banknote before the authorities do so. This is because Paying with counterfeit banknotes is a real criminal offense that can also be prosecuted with imprisonment. If payments are made with counterfeit money, the risk is up to six months in jail.

Article 457 of the Penal Code states that “Any person who spends or puts into circulation counterfeit or altered coins, obtained in good faith, shall be punished with imprisonment of up to six months or a fine of up to 1,032 euros.” It is not very easy to tell if a banknote is fake, especially because of the new methods of counterfeiting. If you don’t have one specific machines To identify them, it is necessary to use other methods.

The most common way is to hold the banknote against the light to check the watermark, the image of Europa (the princess and queen in Greek mythology), the number representing the value and finally the image. Another visual check is to ascertain whether Cyprus and Malta are represented on the banknotes and whether there are signatures of Mario Draghi or Christine Lagarde.

Furthermore, the abbreviation of the European Central Bank must be reported in 9 language variants indicated on the side of the banknote. Finally, you have to check the writing of EURO, which should be written in Cyrillic (EBPO) and Greek letters. Finally, if you touch it, if you notice that the banknote is smooth, it may be wrong. It should not be smooth to the touch, but it should have clear patterns.