BoG says euros harder to forge than drachmas
Greek authorities have confiscated a total of 3,702 forged euro notes so far this year, but this is over seven times less than the number of counterfeit drachmas seized in 2001, Greece’s central bank announced yesterday, arguing that the new paper money is much harder to replicate. According to a Bank of Greece statement, the haul of counterfeit euros since the new currency came into circulation on January 1 corresponds to six forgeries for every million banknotes in circulation – the total being 617 million. In 2001, the corresponding figure was 44 forgeries per million banknotes. The central bank said that in the first half of this year, 21,965 forged euros were seized in all 12 eurozone states – all European Union members with the exception of Britain, Sweden and Denmark – while there were 7.2 billion genuine notes in circulation. And the bank added that even the best imitations confiscated so far have been quite easy to detect.
