A European police operation that included 18 countries and was led by Austria, Portugal and Spain prevented the entry into circulation of around 1.2 billion euros in counterfeit notes and coins of various currencies.
Em statement published this WednesdayFebruary 11, Europol describes that the target was criminal networks that distributed counterfeit money through postal services and that 90% of seizures occurred with shipments to Europe from China.
“Romanian authorities intercepted more than 4.8 million euro banknotes with altered design and dismantled a warehouse containing more than 223,000 counterfeit banknotes sent from China. Additionally, three separate seizures, in Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States, revealed more than 220,000 counterfeit euro, pound and US dollar coins.“, but-se.
Also according to Europol, “between June and November 2025”, the various authorities (police and customs) “seized 379 parcels with counterfeit currency”.
Those seizures triggered another 70 new investigations into criminal networks and, in total, more than seven million counterfeit items were identified, including 4.8 million notes and coins in euros, 2.3 million in dollars, 23,302 in pounds sterling and 4,800 in Swiss francs.
In addition to the Portuguese authorities, the operation involved agents from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
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