Counterfeit thousand-koruna banknotes – illustrative photo.
Prague – 1,980 counterfeit and altered banknotes and coins of various currencies were seized in the Czech Republic last year. There were 4,856 fewer of them year-on-year, but the previous year's number was influenced by the police action, during which a large number of counterfeit euros were caught. The value of counterfeits seized this year was 2.95 million crowns, the Czech National Bank (ČNB) said today.
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Almost half of all seized counterfeits were Czech banknotes, 930 pieces were discovered. The most frequently counterfeited banknote was one thousand crowns, the second most common counterfeit was two thousand crowns.
“It is still true that most counterfeits are not of good quality. If people pay enough attention to their currency, they should be able to recognize these counterfeits,” said Jan Procházka, a member of the banking board. Counterfeiters most often printed banknotes on inkjet printers, this concerned two-thirds of the confiscated pieces. Roughly a third of the pieces were made on color copiers.
Most of the forgeries were rated fourth on a five-point scale, i.e. the second worst. Imitation of protective elements was of poor quality or completely absent. A third of the cases were forgeries in the fifth level of danger, when, for example, the back of the banknote was upside down or completely missing.
The CNB also seized 182 counterfeit Czech coins, while not discovering any counterfeit Czech coins in the previous two years. “We got into circulation a counterfeit twenty-koruna, which is minted in a relatively high quality,” said Procházka. According to him, however, most coin processing equipment recognizes counterfeits and even ordinary people can recognize them when the edge of the edge protrudes above the coin field and the minting quality decreases from the center to the edge of the coin. banknotes, there were 652 of them. It was also possible to capture 80 counterfeit dollar bills.
Procházka said that if a person suspects that someone is trying to give him a counterfeit, he has the right to accept the bill or coin. If he already has a suspicious banknote or coin, he must not return it to circulation, but must hand it over to the police, who will have the CNB check its authenticity. If the banknote is genuine, the person concerned will get it back. If it is a forgery, the CNB will withdraw it from circulation without compensation.
Counterfeiters in the Czech Republic face up to eight years in prison for the crime of counterfeiting and altering money. In the case of an organized group or a significant scale of criminal activity, the penalty is up to ten years.
