Counterfeit euro a threat to economy, police warn

Europe is drowning in counterfeit euro bills of excellent quality that pose a clear threat to its economy, international police warned today.

Effective measures are urgently needed to counter criminal activities tied to counterfeiting both in western Europe – the main distribution point of bogus bills – and in Eastern Europe, where gangs produce much of the fake money and documents, experts said at a conference in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital.

“The criminals are making great progress,” said Juergen Storbeck, director of the European police agency Europol.

”They counterfeit dollar and euro bills, credit cards, travellers cheques. They threaten our whole economic system.”

Experts from more than a dozen countries, as well as from Europol and the US Secret Service, were at the four-day conference, which started today.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxcoburggotski said local police in the last three years had seized more than €3m in counterfeit euro bills, as well as many forged passports, credit cards, travellers cheques and other documents.

“We have busted more than 30 organised criminal groups dealing with counterfeit money production and distribution,” he said.