Brussels, 17/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - During the second half of 2010, a total of 364,102 forged euro notes were withdrawn from circulation, representing a drop of 5.9% compared to the previous six months, the European Central Bank (ECB) reported on Monday 17 January.
In relation to amounts outstanding, which are on the increase, of authentic euro notes in circulation (on average 13.6 billion notes in the second half of 2010), the number of counterfeit notes remains very low. Nonetheless, the Eurosystem - the European Central Bank (ECB) and the 17 national central banks of the euro zone - continue to advise the public to take care when accepting notes in the course of cash transactions.
Notes of 20 (38%) and 50 euro (43.5) remain the most copied denominations. Over the last six months, the share of fake twenty-euro notes has fallen, whilst the proportion of forged fifty-euro notes has increased. Together, these two denominations represented 81.5% of the total number of counterfeit notes. The 100-euro note is the third most forged denomination, representing 13.5% of the total. The share of the other denominations (5, 10, 200 and 500 euro) is very low. The majority (97%) of the counterfeit notes seized in the second half of 2010 were found in the countries of the eurozone, with just 1.5% of the forged notes having been detected in the member states of the European Union which do not belong to the eurozone and 1.5% in other regions of the world. (L.C./trans.fl)