Three gangs responsible for UK’s counterfeit banknotes

by Gill Montia

Story link: Three gangs responsible for UK’s counterfeit banknotes

In its latest annual report, the Bank of England has revealed that 566,000 counterfeit banknotes were taken out of circulation in 2009.

The forgeries had a face value of £11 million, representing a 20% fall on 2008.

Technical analysis suggests that organised criminal gangs were behind the vast majority of all counterfeits detected, and that three major gangs were responsible for almost 90% of the counterfeits passed in 2009.

Last year, the Bank issued 905 million new notes and the average value of notes in circulation during the year stood at £46.1 billion.

Plans to place more five pound notes in circulation are continuing.

Retailers, banks and the public are reminded that they can access a range of educational and training materials to help identify genuine notes from the Bank’s website.