Merchants victims of a scam counterfeit 20 euros in the Landes, false cuts of 20 and 50 euros that circulate in Dinard and Saint-Malo, an alert for counterfeit notes in the Vosges ... In recent days, police have launched a call for vigilance in several cities of France. She is worried about the resurgence of counterfeit notes. These cuts, which are intended to be used for film shoots as movie props, are freely available on the Internet.
"Generally, they are young people who order them on Chinese sites.They are bought at unbeatable prices to less than 10 euros the 100 tickets", details to Europe 1 Alain Bateau, deputy chief with the central office of repression counterfeiting money. "They then try to pass these tickets in fast food, local shops, the fireball ... where you can spend 20 tickets at once because they know that it is not too controlled ".
France is the first country affected by this phenomenon
"It appeared in Europe around April, it began with a few copies, now we have several thousand," says Alain Bateau, deputy head of the Central Office for the Repression of counterfeiting (OCRFM). is the first country in the euro area affected by this phenomenon, with 42% of the "money movie" circulating in Europe, according to the police officer. At least "a hundred investigations" were opened and people were arrested following packages intercepted by customs.
A different texture, security codes that are not present ...
These tickets "are pretty roughly imitated but the same size as real tickets," says Alain Bateau. They are recognizable thanks to several clues: generally below the European flag are the words "Movie Money" instead of the signature of Mario Draghi, the numbering of the tickets is often the same, the mention "This is not legal it is used for motion props only "appears in the margin of the ticket. Also, their texture is often different and security codes are not present.
[# AllMobilized] ⚠️ Counterfeit tickets are running at #SaintMalo & #Dinard.
These notes are recognizable by their different texture and lack of security codes.
If in doubt, refuse the ticket & think # Call17 to report the facts @ PoliceNat35.https: //t.co/cK5jIzVXDr
These scams can be expensive. The scammer faces up to 1 year in prison and 15,000 euros fine. Historically, France is the country of the euro zone most affected by the classic counterfeit money, with "30 to 40%" counterfeit money circulating in Europe, mostly from Italy, the leading European producer of counterfeit money. .