Germany sees slight rise in counterfeit cash driven by smaller bills

The number of counterfeit banknotes discovered in Germany was up 8% in the first half of 2025 compared to the previous six months, Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, said on Friday.

The Bundesbank said 36,610 fake banknotes were detected during the first half of the year. However, with criminals typically turning their attention to smaller denomination notes, the total loss amounted to €2.13 million ($2.5 million), only 1.6% more than in the last six months of 2024.

The number of fake notes found during the first half of the year still falls below the number detected in the first half of 2024, the bank said.

The €50 note was the most common counterfeit note, accounting for 51% of all fake notes detected. This was followed by the €20 note, which accounted for 21% of cases, and the €100 note in 17% of cases.

Fake €500 notes are now very rarely found in circulation, making up less than 1% of registered cases.

Despite the higher figures, it is still very unlikely that citizens come into contact with counterfeit money in Germany, said Burkhard Balz, the member of the Bundesbank’s executive board responsible for cash.

“In purely mathematical terms, there were nine counterfeit banknotes per 10,000 inhabitants,” Balz said.

This is below last year’s Europe-wide figure of 13 counterfeit notes per 10,000 inhabitants.