Overview
- Officers arrested a 32-year-old man and his 40-year-old partner on October 20 in Wuppertal, and both are in pretrial detention.
- Police seized a fully equipped workshop with 13 printers that were partly still running and found hundreds of counterfeit €50 notes, including 333 in the suspect’s car.
- Prosecutors say the pair produced and circulated more than €300,000 in counterfeit euros since 2023, with counterfeits worth about €100,000 and two vehicles seized.
- The suspects allegedly sold notes under a pseudonym via the internet and Telegram, accepted cryptocurrency payments, and operated with a tiered price list.
- Cases in Ingolstadt, Augsburg, Munich, and Regensburg led to the suspects after three buyers were convicted in September over roughly €31,000 in fakes, as the Bundesbank reports 72,400 notes removed in 2024, up 28%, with the seized bills rated good in quality but not excellent.