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Counterfeit Money

Volume 454: debated on Monday 4 December 2006

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many counterfeit (a) sterling notes and (b) euros have been seized (i) in the UK and (ii) elsewhere since January 2002; what (A) denomination and (B) sum value they were; and what their provenance was. (104514)

A total of 1,640,000 counterfeit Bank of England banknotes were removed from circulation globally between 2002-05 with a total value of £28,695,000. Comprehensive data are not available for the provenance of the counterfeit notes. Data are not available for the number of counterfeits of sterling notes issued by those commercial banks permitted to issue notes in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Between 2002 and June 2006 a total of 2,182,800 counterfeit euro banknotes with a total value of £117,487,191 euros were removed from circulation globally. These data are not broken down by member state. Comprehensive data are not available for the provenance of the counterfeit notes.

The following tables give a breakdown by denomination and value for the above totals.

Euro counterfeits

€5

€10

€20

€50

€100

€200

€500

Total

Number of notes

2002

1,039

3,108

14,845

136,133

10,307

1,525

161

167,118

2003

3,209

5,335

149,518

314,846

54,575

14,026

950

542,459

2004

6,128

22,305

155,551

271,681

114,183

20,369

4,006

594,223

2005

5,790

34,740

126,960

341,820

40,670

20,370

8,650

579,000

20061

3,000

12,000

132,000

108,000

36,000

6,000

3,000

300,000

Value

2002

5,195

31,080

296,900

6,806,650

1,030,700

305,000

80,500

8,556,025

2003

16,045

53,350

2,990,360

15,742,300

5,457,500

2,805,200

475,000

27,539,755

2004

30,640

223,050

3,111,020

13,584,050

11,418,300

4,073,800

2,003,000

34,443,860

2005

28,950

347,400

2,539,200

17,091,000

4,067,000

4,074,000

4,325,000

32,472,550

20061

15,000

120,000

2,640,000

5,400,000

3,600,000

1,200,000

1,500,000

14,475,000

1 First six months.

Sterling1 counterfeits

£5

£10

£20

£50

Total

Number of notes

2002

105,000

142,000

185,000

7,000

439,000

2003

56,000

36,000

268,000

6,000

366,000

2004

20,000

17,000

287,000

6,000

330,000

2005

6,000

7,000

487,000

5,000

505,000

Value

2002

525,000

1,420,000

3,700,000

350,000

5,995,000

2003

280,000

360,000

5,360,000

300,000

6,300,000

2004

100,000

170,000

5,740,000

300,000

6,310,000

2005

30,000

70,000

9,740,000

250,000

10,090,000

1 These figures only relate to counterfeit Bank of England banknotes.