Last year authorities in Slovakia seized more than 2700 counterfeit euro banknotes worth more than €330,000. In annual terms the number of counterfeits increased by 88 %, writes the Hospodarske Noviny daily.
€100 banknotes were the most popular among counterfeits, followed by 50 Euro bills. Coins were counterfeited too, with the 2 Euro coin being the most frequent. The European Central Bank (ECB) sees the steep rise of counterfeits as one of the biggest reasons why they decided to introduce a new 10 Euro bank note which is to go into circulation as of 23rd September of this year. The new bill shares resemblance with the one we currently use however, it is reinforced by more security features making it harder to counterfeit. The ECB plans to gradually introduce improved versions of all Euro banknotes.
