00:00: A currency exchange on the Italian border. Here, up to 1,500 tourists a day exchange Lira, Schilling and Deutschmark.

00:12: (conversation in Italian/German)

00:16: Within second employees must decide whether the money is genuine and can be accepted.

00:31: Speaker 1: We look at the latent effect, its features under UV light, and these stripes here. If the note looks suspicious, then we’ll take a closer look at the characteristics that reveal its authenticity.

Interviewer: And have you ever discovered counterfeit money?

Speaker 1: Yes we have.

00:52: In recent months almost 40% more counterfeits notes have been found compared to last year. With the euro soon to become the default currency for many, banks are trying to rid the market of counterfeit currency. 12 days ago, Italian and Austrian detectives were only just able to prevent one biggest currency scams in recent history. Counterfeit notes nominally worth 637 million lira, or $370,000, were confiscated. Nine people are now in custody. Most are well-known figures in the Italian mafia.

01:42: Speaker 2: The leader of the gangs comes from Calabria and is involved in a network of fraud and violence. The group’s influence extends beyond Italy and into Europe. We are sure that there are still many out there involved in counterfeiting currency.

02:05: Speaker 3: It looks as if the distribution network spreads all over Europe and the last link in the chain is only given a small amount of bills. This means that suspicion remains relatively low and the smaller links in the chain, say someone who works in the counterfeiting workshop, is unable to provide any meaningful information as to how the organisation works. This is the usual structure of such operations, and as a result understanding how everything fits together is very difficult.

02:39: Naples – the city of counterfeiters and thugs, and a stronghold for the mafia. The region has the highest crime rate in Europe. Counterfeiting is a centuries-old tradition here. Hardly anything sold on the countless illegal trading stands is genuine. In Naples the authorities suspect the counterfeiters have secret print shops . The next few months could prove critical.

03:06: Speaker 4: I’m convinced that we will soon see loads of poorly counterfeited euros. But because people aren’t familiar with the new notes, they will be more vulnerable.

03:24: Traders in Naples are already used to dealing with fake Liras. At the local grocers the Lambo family see counterfeit money on a monthly basis. Their specially purchased testing device flagged up a fake note just three days ago. The owner can even feel when a note is a fake.

03:46: Speaker 5: With a little experience you can spot them. In the light you can see small lines, and if you bend it you can feel it. Real bank notes don’t have that. Also, paper feels different.

04:05: Fake notes are displayed like trophies and each has its own story, like the 50,000 Lira bill with a signature. Until recently it was common practise for the customer to authenticate the note with his/her signature.

04:17: Speaker 5: We recognise that the signature is of no use because it has no legal value. We have left our mark on the note. Just like on the others.

04:32: Some fakes are almost perfect. Others are very easy to spot. Anyone counterfeiting money with a standard scanner, computer or printer can expected to fail. The pros however collect around 15% of the nominal value of their carefully produced bills. The rest goes to the groups in charge of distribution.

04:57: Speaker 6: We can certainly assume that making counterfeit money is a part of organised crime. At least as far as printing forgeries is concerned. There are close links between the two. It’s also important to find those who bring the currency into general circulation, to the man if you will. These people are normally ones who have committed previous crimes. And here I think one can assume there is a close link with other areas of organised crime.

05:41: It’s becoming more common that fakes can only be exposed in police laboratories.

05:47: Speaker 7: On the right we have a genuine note and you can see that the banknote number has a slightly different shade to one on the right, which is a fake.

06:04: Only UV light and fluorescent radiation from special equipment can distinguish whether the bill comes from the national bank or from the mafia. Often it is only small details that indicate whether the note is a fake.

06:19: Speaker 7: Here the watermarks are different. In the light you have this coat-of-arms like structure inside. Right here. That is not visible on the fake note – it wasn’t imitated here. While the watermark, this portrait, that has been imitated, obviously with a yellowish colour.

06:46: Not only has the technical equipment of the police improved, but also that of the counterfeiters. Especially with Lira notes, the Mafia has been very successful. The Lira has significantly fewer security features than the Schilling. Experts assure that that the euro will be as secure as possible.

07:08: Only a small group of employees have access to the printing works of the Austrian National Bank. The security features of the Euro are still a big secret. Not even police experts have been given the details.

07:25: Speaker 8: The security features will be made public on 30^th August and in the remaining four months the security features will be publicised to every citizen on the eurozone through a PR campaign. These four months should be enough to make the security feature well-known. Doing it sooner wouldn’t make a difference and would only give counterfeiters more time to produce fakes.

08:01: The cent and euro coins will also be harder to counterfeit. The Austrian National Bank has so far made 1.4 billion coins. That’s almost 90% of the required amount. Despite the negative omens, experts still believe that the euro will be a difficult currency to counterfeit. However, the euro will not be immune. In the long term the National Bank expects an increase in counterfeiting.

08:31: Speaker 8: It’s to be expected that the larger the area a bank note can be used in, the more attractive it is to counterfeit it. The Schilling had very high security features, but only 7 million used it as their currency. The euro will have the same feature, but 300 million will be using it.

08:53: The mafia counterfeiters’ workshops are still in the dark, but somewhere in the south of Italy the next illegal business is being prepared. Although the currency will be different, it is unlikely that things will change in the years to come.