Thousands of fake euro notes pulled from circulation

In the first half of 2012 a total of 251,000 counterfeit euro banknotes were withdrawn from circulation. This means that the overall quantity of counterfeits withdrawn from circulation from January to June 2012 was 15.2% lower compared with the figures for the same period in 2011. At the same time, there was a decrease of 19.0% as regards the quantity recovered in the first half of 2012 compared with the previous six months.

• Primary Source

ECB: Press Release, 16.7.12: Biannual information on euro banknote counterfeiting http://www.ecb.int/press/pr/date/2012/html/pr120716.en.html

ECB: The euro: Anti-counterfeiting http://www.ecb.int/euro/html/counterfeiting.en.html

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