Law enforcement agencies across 18 countries have seized counterfeit currency totaling over €66 million in recent months, with support from Europol. The operation targeted the distribution of forged banknotes and coins in Euro, US dollars and British pounds.
The collaborative effort led to 102 new investigations into criminal networks involved in counterfeiting activities. A total of 297 packages containing counterfeit money were intercepted, with over 990,000 individual fake items seized. This included banknotes and coins valued at over €280,000, $679,000 and £12,000.
The majority of these criminal networks are operating outside the European Union, primarily originating from Asia, but also from the Americas and the Middle East. A significant success was achieved in Romania, where national authorities confiscated $600,000 in counterfeit currency.
This operation represents the second phase of an earlier initiative also coordinated with Europol. As with the first phase, the seized items largely consist of modified-design banknotes, often referred to as “movie money”. These reproductions mimic the appearance of genuine currency, but contain a small indication that they are not legal tender.
The investigations for this second phase were conducted between October 2024 and March 2025, with authorities in Austria, Portugal and Spain taking the leading roles. Participating countries also included Germany, Bulgaria, France, Greece, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Croatia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Turkey and the United States.
