O central bank released a survey for the year 2021 with the amount of counterfeit bills seized in 2021.
According to the Counterfeit Statistics, around 217,000 counterfeit banknotes were found by the police in the given year. Among the banknotes found, the vast majority were among the three largest banknotes: R$200, R$100 and R$50.
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The Southeast was the region where the most counterfeit banknotes were found, with São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro leading the document's statistics.
In the southern region, in Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, 25,934, 14,322 and 12,473 banknotes were seized respectively. In other regions, the highlighted states are: Goiás (11,610), Distrito Federal (8,572), Pernambuco (5,073) and Espírito Santo (5,055).
Although the amount of counterfeit banknotes has reduced compared to 2020, an increase in counterfeit banknotes of large denominations has been observed. The R$200 bill, for example, saw a big increase compared to the previous year, from 4,000 to 104,000.
However, the banknote preferred by criminals continues to be the R$100 note, around 110,000 notes seized by the Federal Police.
Production of counterfeit notes
Despite the fact that the seizure of counterfeit banknotes is common in the country, the Brazilian banknote security system is highly qualified. Brazilian money is produced by the Casa da Moeda, and has several security systems such as watermarks and high relief.
However, criminals still manage to produce counterfeit banknotes that circulate for some time in the market. That's because there are criminal organizations that specialize in discovering the security devices on banknotes.
This problem does not only affect the State, since the circulation of counterfeit banknotes in large quantities can have a major impact on the economy. And with that, the national currency is weakened, which causes other problems like inflation.
The penalty for the crime of counterfeiting money in Brazil can reach 12 years in prison.