Caution! Correct money on Christmas markets - this is how you protect yourself!

The Braunschweig Christmas market attracts hundreds of visitors every day, drinking mulled wine and enjoying various dishes. While many stands now also offer cashless payment options, numerous guests have cash with them. However, the police warn of the risk of counterfeit money that could be a potential problem on the Christmas market.

according to News38.de If counterfeit money in Braunschweig does not appear disproportionately, and the Christmas market is not the focus of such cases. Stand operators often report to the police when they find that they have counterfeit money in their income. This also affects the visitors to the Christmas market: if someone receives counterfeit money, the last owner can be involved in criminal proceedings.

tips for recognizing counterfeit money

To recognize counterfeit money, the police give some valuable tips:

• Pay attention to the grip and strength of the paper.
• Check tangible elements such as print images and hatching.
• carry out a light test: pay attention to watermarks, portrait hologram and safety threads.
• tend to recognize different security features that vary depending on the age of the certificate.

In addition, Bild.de In Germany, fraudsters are increasingly trying to pay for false money on Santa Clauses. The police have therefore asked the dealers to pay attention to the authenticity of banknotes. Several cases of counterfeit money have been reported to Christmas markets in the past few weeks, including in Eisenach. False 50-euro notes are particularly affected, with two thirds of all fake banknotes being 20 or 50 euro notes.

The police recommend traders and customers to "see, tip, feel" test to check banknotes and advise you to bring fake notes to the police instead of returning them. The placing on the market is a serious crime. In 2022, 376,000 fake banknotes were pulled out of circulation, which corresponds to a rate of 13 falsified ones per million in circulation.