Counterfeit money was used to pay at the market, in shops and with taxi drivers.
Fake euro banknotes were found in circulation at the weekly flea market in Komarn, right next to the city police building.
A 70-year-old woman selling at this market was unpleasantly surprised. After returning home, she discovered that the six 20-euro banknotes that the unknown woman had used to pay her were counterfeit.
The case is already being investigated by Komarno criminal investigators, who have charged a 49-year-old woman and her two adult children.
The trio bought hundreds of knockoffs through the Temu mobile app. For approximately 19 euros, the trio acquired banknotes with a face value of 6,000 euros.
49-year-old Marija, her 22-year-old daughter Eržebet and 19-year-old son Mario ordered 400 banknotes in denominations of 20 euros and 100 euros.
The imitations were the same size as the originals and were deliberately worn to give the impression of being used.
However, these were unsuccessful forgeries, on which the inscription “copy” was whitened. Despite this, the trio paid them not only at the flea market, but also at grocery stores and taxi drivers.
Investigators in Komarno seized 16 pieces of forgery, including banknotes seized in circulation. The suspects, according to their own words, burned the remaining forgeries.
After an expert review, the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) classified the quality of the seized counterfeits as level 5, which is the worst level of counterfeiting. “Using counterfeit banknotes is a criminal offense,” said NBS spokesman Peter Majer, Slovak online media reported
Despite the poor quality of the banknotes, the trio managed to pay with them in various places. Those who received counterfeit money only realized later that they were counterfeits.
The Chinese platform Temu offers various products and recently this curiosity appeared in its offer in the form of counterfeit euro banknotes. According to JOJ TV, counterfeit banknotes are currently no longer offered by Chinese merchant Temu.
(Vijesti.ba)
