"Blossoms" is used most frequently in the Rostock area in the north-east. Also because investigators caught a duo there in the summer, the damage sums are declining again. But business people should still be careful.
Schwerin/Rostock (dpa/mv) - Counterfeit crime has fallen in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. As statistics from the State Criminal Police Office in MV show, there were 340 cases with almost 800 counterfeit banknotes in the north-east in the first nine months. Although the number of cases is similar to that of the same period last year, there are about a third fewer "blossoms". The damage for 2022 has so far been given as around 32,000 euros, which was more than 60 percent less than in the same period last year. The investigators had registered the lowest level in MV throughout 2019, when 386 cases with 550 “flowers” appeared.
In 2022, perpetrators most frequently used counterfeit €50 banknotes - in around half of all cases - ahead of €20 banknotes, which were noticed in 41 percent of cases. According to the LKA, most cases of forgery occurred in Rostock and in the district of Rostock, where a duo of students was arrested in the summer under suspicion.
The young men are said to have paid with "blossoms" of 20-euro and 50-euro bills in at least 60 cases since the beginning of June. Shops in Rostock and in the eastern part of the Rostock district were particularly affected. In some shops, video cameras were used as mug shots and led to the suspects at the end of July. Evidence had also been secured in their apartments.
In this context, the authorities warn against the increasing use of legal play money, which is legally correctly described as "confusable, banknote-like image". This play money, which can be legally distributed subject to compliance with certain rules, is "used" most frequently at festivals, in bars or nightclubs and also in retail.
