The Counterfeit Euro

Europe’s economic situation might be unraveling the region; but some people are cashing in on the financial crisis.

Since late 2009 Europe’s financial standing has taken a severe hit. Much like here at home reasons for this include easy credit conditions, high risk lending, real estate bubbles and slow growth conditions. Now the ongoing turmoil is threatening the euro which earlier this week hit a 17 month low against the dollar and an 11 year low against the Yen.

But as the euro contains to drop in the global marketplace counterfeiters see the currency as a business opportunity. The European Central Bank says the number of fake euro banknotes found in the second half of last year is up to 3100,000 bills. This is a 4.7% increase from the previous six months.

But the bank was quick to add that on average the number of counterfeit notes remains very low and the majority of notes on the market are real. It says 20 and 50 euro banknotes are a favorite for counterfeiters accounting for four out of five fake bills. Leave it to crooks to find a way to profit from crisis.