The Carabinieri of the Cryptocurrency Section of the Anti-Counterfeiting Command, with the support of the Provincial Carabinieri Command of Lecce, dismantled a clandestine printing plant for counterfeit banknotes in Casarano and arrested a man accused of producing and trafficking counterfeit currency.
The operation, coordinated by the Lecce Public Prosecutor's Office, stemmed from the monitoring of Telegram channels dedicated to the sale of counterfeit banknotes. The investigation, launched in February 2024, led to the identification of a Casarano resident who was running a clandestine printing press from his home.
The man produced high-quality counterfeit 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 euro banknotes, which were then distributed in Italy and abroad through postal shipments. The estimated turnover is over 60 euros.
The counterfeit banknotes were so well-made that they even fooled automatic control systems. Technical analysis conducted by the National Analysis Centre (NAC) of the Bank of Italy allowed them to be classified as two new classes of high-quality counterfeits.
The arrested man used a Telegram channel with the handle "@DeathOfSilentBuy" to sell the counterfeit banknotes. Buyers paid in Bitcoin or PayPal and received the packages via courier. To evade security checks, the man used labels generated by a second-hand clothing website.
The investigation allowed us to reconstruct the distribution chain and identify numerous buyers in Italy and other European Union countries, including France, Spain, Germany, Austria, and Luxembourg.
In France, the police arrested a man red-handed while receiving a postal package containing 11 banknotes. 50 fake euros.
During the operation the following were seized:
5.000 fake 20 euro notes
65.000 euros already printed and ready to be defined
5.100 Euros in Counterfeit Banknotes Found in 6 Packages Ready for Shipping
3 printers
Material for the production of counterfeit banknotes
The vendor's Telegram channel
The arrested man was subjected to preventive asset seizure worth 11 thousand euros.
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