The German central bank reports a decline in counterfeit euro banknotes. In 2025, almost 68 000 forged notes were detected in Germany’s payment system – a drop of 6.1 % compared with the previous year. The resulting damage was €4 million, roughly 11 % lower than in 2024 when the loss was €4.5 million.
Bundesbank board member Burkhard Balz, who oversees cash, said the lower total damage reflects a noticeable reduction in forgeries of the 100‑ and 200‑euro notes. The criminals have focused mainly on simpler counterfeits of medium‑value denominations. Overall, counterfeit activity remains low: on a purely statistical basis, eight fake notes per 10 000 residents were recorded in 2025.
Many of the fakes were “very easy to spot” – some even bore labels such as “MovieMoney” or “Prop copy” and lacked any imitation of the security features. New to this year, counterfeiters are increasingly targeting 50‑euro notes, in addition to the 10‑ and 20‑euro denominations previously most common. Nevertheless, vigilance is advised for all denominations.
The trend of falling counterfeit hard currency continued. In 2025 the Bundesbank removed about 128 100 forged coins from circulation, down 9.3 % from the roughly 141 300 figures in 2024. That equates to fifteen fake coins per 10 000 inhabitants. All faked coins were limited to the three highest denominations – 2‑euro, 1‑euro and 50‑cent pieces.
