184 Counterfeit Bills Discovered Last Year... 21% Increase Compared to Previous Year

Source: Bank of Korea

Last year, a total of 184 counterfeit banknotes were discovered in South Korea.

The Bank of Korea announced on the 9th that a total of 184 counterfeit banknotes were found during the Bank of Korea's currency handling process or reported to the Bank of Korea by financial institutions or individuals last year, an increase of 32 notes (21.1%) compared to 152 notes the previous year.

The number of counterfeit banknotes decreased from 292 in 2019 to 176 in 2021 and 152 in 2022, but returned to an upward trend last year.

A Bank of Korea official explained, "The main reasons are the normalization of face-to-face transactions and an increase in the discovery of counterfeit banknotes that were widely circulated in the past."

The total amount of counterfeit banknotes discovered in 2023 was 1,863,000 won, a slight decrease (-8.0%) compared to 2,024,000 won the previous year.

The number of counterfeit banknotes discovered by denomination was 116 notes of 5,000 won, 37 notes of 10,000 won, 18 notes of 50,000 won, and 13 notes of 1,000 won, in that order.

By discoverer, counterfeit banknotes were 57 notes by the Bank of Korea, 108 notes by financial institutions, and 19 notes by individuals, mainly detected during the currency handling process of financial institutions.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Korea announced that it awarded the Governor's Commendation and a monetary reward on the 26th of last month to the Yongsan Police Station of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and the Dalseo Police Station of the Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency, which made significant contributions to the arrest of currency counterfeiters.

These police stations conducted active investigations last year and quickly apprehended three counterfeiters, minimizing damage to the public.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.