STATISTICAL REPORT ON EURO COUNTERFEITING

Transcription

1 TREASURY DEPARTMENT DIRECTORATE III INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL RELATIONS CENTRAL MEANS OF PAYMENT ANTI-COUNTERFEITING OFFICE (UCAMP) STATISTICAL REPORT ON EURO COUNTERFEITING fourth edition (January - June 2003) This Document can be consulted on line at: 1

2 I N D E X INTRODUCTION page 3 1. REPORTS RECEIVED page 4 2. BANK NOTES WITHDRAWN page 7 3. BANK NOTES APPRAISED page COUNTERFEITING OF METAL COINS page CONCLUSIONS page 14 2

3 Introduction. The Central Means of Payment Anti counterfeiting Office (UCAMP) is in charge of gathering and analyzing, subsequent to the reports made by financial intermediaries 1, police forces 2 as well as after the appraisal has taken place the Technical Commission of the Bank of Italy and of the State Mint, Printing Works and Stationery Office, all the information relating to the bank notes and/or coins withdrawn from the monetary circuit as suspected of being counterfeit. The analysis of the data, carried out on the basis of the data processing technology available to the Office, has enabled to trace the trend of development for the Euro forgery phenomenon in Italy, in the first semester of the second year since its introduction on the monetary circuit, as specified below. In this connection, it should be pointed out that the quality and quantity of the total information received by UCAMP in the timeframe taken into consideration, are clear evidence of the effectiveness of the data collection system set up by our Country, in compliance with the guidelines forming the basis of the (EC) Regulation no. 1338/2001, in order to properly tackle, from both a prevention and suppression standpoint, the counterfeiting of the new European currency. 1 By virtue of a measure of the Bank of Italy Governor dated January 21st 2002 (relating to bank notes) and of a decree of the Ministry of Economy and Finance dated March 1st 2002 (relating to coins). 2 Law enforcement agencies, upon seizure of allegedly false bills and/or coins, transmit special forms in accordance with the formalities and deadlines laid down by a specific interministerial decree. 3

4 1. REPORTS RECEIVED. As mentioned in the introduction, in the course of the first semester of the current year although with a decreasing trend, peaking in November with 4,894 reports received (illustration 1) UCAMP has received a total of 23,443 reports 3 (illustration 2), mainly coming from, once again, banks (64,16%) and post offices (16,62%). The examination of the territorial origin of the aforementioned reports has confirmed, in comparison with last year, that the larger flow concerns mainly the northern regions (6,995 North West and 4,370 North East) and the central ones (7,544) (Illustration 3). In the South and the Islands, on the other hand, 2,976 and 1,497 cases of suspected falsity have been registered respectively, while 61 reports come from the Republic of San Marino and the Vatican City State (Other section of the chart in illustration 3). Finally, the Region capitals appear to be source of the largest amount of information (Illustration 4). 3 Identified as such are both the suspect currency withdrawal reports and the forms drawn up by the financial intermediaries and the Police Forces, respectively. 4

5 Illustration no. 1 MONTHLY FLOW OF REPORTS JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE Illustration no. 2 REPORTS RECEIVED Subdivided by Institution Police Forces Postal Service Banks Bank of Italy Money Custody and Transport Tax Collection Public Administrations Other fin. Intermediaries 5

6 Illustration no. 3 REPORTS RECEIVED Subdivision by geographical area Other Center Islands North/East North/West South Illustration no. 4 6

7 2. WITHDRAWN BANK NOTES. Since January 1 st 2003, 45,009 bank notes suspected of being counterfeit have been withdrawn, compared to 23,443 reports received. This incongruity is justified by the fact that the reports sent to the UCAMP may contain data concerning even more than one bank note, withdrawn by banks, post offices and other financial intermediaries on the one hand, or seized by the Police Forces in the course of their suppression activity on the other hand (illustration 5). Precisely from the comparison of the data shown on illustrations 2 and 5 it emerges, in fact, that the Police Forces, by virtue of the peculiar info-investigative activity carried out in the fields falling within their specific competence, usually file reports (a lower number of them by comparison with those filed by the financial intermediaries) concerning instead a considerable number of bank notes or coins suspected of being counterfeit. As indicated by the analysis of the flow of reports received, also in the territorial distribution of the withdrawn banknotes, a predominance of the phenomenon in the North and in the Center of the Country can be noted. In fact, from table 1 and illustration 6, it can be seen that the cases recorded in the South amount to 3,225, as against the 39,726 ones registered as a whole in the Central-northern regions (10,826 in the North/West, 5,037 in the North/East and 23,916 in the Center). 7

8 Illustration no. 5 WITHDRAWN BANK NOTES Subdivided by Institution Carabinieri Guardia di Finanza State Police Banks Bank of Italy Custody and Transport of money Other fin. Intermediaries Postal Service Public Administrations Tax Collection Table no. 1 Total Other Center 23, ,535 16, Islands 1, , North/East 5, ,678 2, North/West 10, ,120 6, South 3, ,356 1, Total 45, ,199 14,711 27, Illustration no. 6 8

9 Confirming the trend which had emerged in the last statistical Report, also for the first semester 2003 most of the withdrawn bank notes bear the characteristic serial number of the ones issued on behalf of Italy (illustration no.7). Illustration no. 7 WITHDRAWN BANK NOTES Italian ones/other issuing States Ratio 40% Italy Other Member States 60% The bank notes withdrawn from circulation issued on behalf of the other Member States are listed in detail as follows: Belgium 2,336 U.K.(*) 292 Sweden (*) 522 Finland 298 Portugal 322 Austria 422 The Netherlands 640 Luxembourg 198 Ireland 250 France 1615 Spain 4,393 Denmark (*) 176 Germany 925 Greece 943 Other (**) 4,542 (*) It has been made use of the alphabetic codes composing, along with other numerical characters, the serial number of the bank notes, assigned to the National Central Banks of the Member States which have not yet joined the euro currency area. (**) It has been made use of alphabetic codes, pertaining, again, to the serial numbers of the bank notes, never assigned to any of the National Central Banks of the Member States. 9

10 3. BANK NOTES APPRAISED. The bank notes thus withdrawn by the national monetary circuit for suspected falseness are appraised by the competent National Analysis Center (CNA) at the Bank of Italy, which reports the outcome periodically to the UCAMP, which - in turn proceeds to the definitive reconcilement of the provisional data already stored in its information system. Through this data linking activity, it has emerged that in the initial six months of 2003 the aforesaid Analysis Center has examined % (40,003 out of 45,009) of the bills withdrawn (illustration 8). Of these, 97.37% (38,954) have been found to be counterfeit, whereas the remaining 2.63% (equal to 1,049) is composed of authentic bank notes (illustration 9). These elements denote, as mentioned in the introduction, that the counterfeiting phenomenon is taking on an increasing importance both from a technical standpoint and with regard to the territorial extent of the offence. 10

11 Illustration no. 8 WITHDRAWN BANK NOTES Appraised/not appraised ratio 11% 89% Appraised bank notes Not appraised bank notes Illustration no. 9 APPRAISED BANK NOTES Autentic/false ratio 3% 97% Authentic bank notes False bank notes 11

12 4. COUNTERFEITING OF METAL COINS. From the beginning of the year up to June 30 th, 2003 a total of 414 Euro coins suspected of being counterfeit have been withdrawn. Presently, 63.28% of the reported total (illustration 10), equal to 262 units has been submitted for expert examination which the State Mint, Printing Works and Stationery Office (CNAC) eventually found to be false. More specifically, the counterfeiting pertained to 17 fifty cent pieces, 238 one Euro coins and 7 two Euro pieces. The metal coin which more than any other has been the subject of reproduction attempts is the 1 euro coin (369 cases discovered), while the most affected geographical area, unlike what had been made known by the previous Report, has been the North-West, a great deal of the alleged counterfeiting (242 cases) has, in fact, been ascertained in Piedmont, followed by Sicily with 148 cases (illustration 11). 12

13 Illustration no. 10 WITHDRAWN COINS Appraised/not appraised ratio 37% 63% Appraised coins Not appraised coins Illustration no

14 5. CONCLUSIONS. In the light of the above, even though the falsification phenomenon is taking on ever more significant dimensions, the experience gained and the constant work to make aware of the specific issue all the operators in the field and the citizens themselves allow, nonetheless, to timely identify and withdraw from the monetary circuit, in full compliance with the principles that inspired the (EC) Regulation 1338/2001, an ever larger quantity of counterfeit currency. The appraisals carried out by the Bank of Italy point to the confirmation that the criminal organizations devoted to the illicit counterfeiting activity use reproduction techniques which require the recourse to sophisticated instrumentation, precisely with a view to reproduce forgeries as faithful as possible to the originals. In particular: among the counterfeiting techniques employed, ink-jet printing (with 6,010 cases discovered), in Community-colors copy (with 13,200 cases discovered) and off-set (with 19,311, as against 7,329 cases registered in illustration 12) again stand out. Unquestionably, the latter system is characterized by a greater danger, thanks to the better quality of the imitation and the potential high quantity of reproducible copies. By virtue of their intrinsic insidiousness, in point of fact, these new typologies of counterfeits may well be considered to be of Community relevance. the 50 Euro banknote continues to be the subject of counterfeiting attempts. Suffice it to say, in fact, that out of the 38,954 ones found to be false, as many as 22,946 (equal to 58.9%) pertained to the aforesaid denomination (table 2). As for the coins, on the other hand, the technical-statistical data available to the Office confirms the interest of criminal organizations to mint false ones, given the indubitable greater nominal value of the same compared to the liras of old. In fact, the passage from one currency which has, among its metallic denominations, coins of even double and quadruple value in comparison with the most valuable piece of the previous national currency (1 and 2 Euros as compared with one thousand liras) has manifestly made the criminal activity in this particular field more attractive, while being, however, adequately hindered by the effective prevention and suppression activity carried out by the subjects institutionally in charge of protecting the new European currency from counterfeiting attempts. 14

15 Illustration no. 12 SUBDIVISION ACCORDING TO PRINTING METHOD Other Reproduction Techniques Community-Colors Copy Ink-jet Printing Laser Printing Off-set Printing White/Balck Copy Table no Total Other reproduction techniques Community-Colors Copy ,495 3, ,200 Ink-jet Printing , ,010 Laser Printing Off-set Printing , ,311 White/Black Copy Total ,400 22, ,954 15