Sharp Rise in Counterfeit Euro Coins

Last month we reported on the 2024 counterfeit figures for the euro. This month is the turn of coins, with figures from the European Commission detailing a sharp increase in the number of counterfeits in 2023 (the most recent year on which it has reported) to 480,371 – up 62% compared to 2022 and the highest level by far since the introduction of the euro in 2002.

This was slightly higher than the 467,000 counterfeit euro banknotes seized in 2023.

The most counterfeited coin was the €2 – with a total of 451,747 detected in circulation (94% of the total) – up by 67.5% over the previous year. This denomination is also the coin that features a wide variety of commemorative designs, with each Eurosystem country able to issue two €2 coins depicting a commemorative design on their national side each year. A larger portion of the counterfeits were these circulating commemoratives.