The central bank’s statement said that this not only demonstrated the rarity of such fakes but that Portugal’s total represented only 1.1 percent of the counterfeits in circulation throughout the Eurozone where such dodgy notes rose by 25 percent with a total of around 838,000 taken out of circulation last year.
In Portugal, the most commonly forged note is the €20, according to 51 percent of all seizures and combined with the €50 note represents 86 percent of all counterfeits.