Banknote Counterfeiting Phenomenon in Poland

Abstract

The paper presents the phenomenon of banknote counterfeiting in Poland and a selection of methods used against this type of crime. It shows that the number of counterfeit banknotes in Poland is much lower than in the eurozone countries. Moreover, a share of counterfeit Polish zloty banknotes significantly dropped in 2011 to the level of 7.6 ppm and between 2015–2018 to the level of 2.6–2.7 ppm. This decline can be associated with increased law enforcement (elimination of a large criminal group of counterfeiters in 2001) and the Polish zloty banknotes upgrade in 2014 and 2016, which introduced a set of new security features further discussed in this paper. This leads to the conclusion that regular currency modernization, introducing new security features as well as law enforcement activities are an effective anti-counterfeit method.