Finland reports a significant decrease in counterfeit euro banknotes to 483 pieces. The central bank links this to the rapid introduction of cashless payments in the country.
Finland’s central bank said on Friday that a total of 483 counterfeit euro banknotes were discovered in Finland last year. He attributes this mainly to the more frequent transition to cashless payments for services, writes TASR according to the Finnish public broadcaster YLE.
In 2024, the number of counterfeit euro banknotes detected in Finland reached 714, in 2023 it was 653, and in 2022 it was 469. Most of the counterfeits found last year were 50-euro banknotes, a total of 251 pieces. There were 130 counterfeits of 20-euro banknotes and 47 of 10-euro banknotes.
Banknote expert Olli Vehmas of the Central Bank of Finland said the number of counterfeits remains low compared to the rest of the eurozone. The central bank said last year that banknote withdrawals from ATMs, tellers and shop tellers fell by around six percent. When traveling abroad, travelers from Finland chose the most banknotes in Estonia, Spain and Thailand.
