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“All over Europe, law enforcement agencies performed actions against suspects who bought counterfeit euro banknotes on illegal platforms on the Darknet… These joint actions are a direct result of a successful case handled by the Austrian Federal Criminal Police Office in June in 2018 and supported by Europol, when a print shop was dismantled in Leoben, central Austria, and the producer was arrested. The suspect was making counterfeit 10, 20 and 50 euro banknotes and sold them on several illegal Darknet marketplaces. Over 10 000 counterfeit banknotes were shipped to buyers all over Europe.” (Europol, 7 Dec. 2018)

It is, at the very least, interesting to note that official money-printing machines are made by KBA-Mödling in Maria Enzersdorf Austria. It’s an approximately hour and a half drive to Leoben Austria, which is where the illegal print shop was dismantled last June. KBA has had a market share of approximately 90% in the field of banknote-security printing machines, most of which are/were built by KBA-Mödling in Maria Enzersdorf, according to the KBA web sites.

Remember the notorious picture of US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and his wife? Notice that the machine is marked KBA-Notasys: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/16/steve-mnuchin-louise-linton-mocked-posing-dollars

They don’t say if this is the case, but imagine the impacts if KBA printing presses are/were being illegally used to make US dollars, as well as Euros? They could easily be laundered through cash only real estate, which is how people have often bought Trump properties. Imagine the inflationary impact on the US and European economy if enough counterfeit currency is printed. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_revolution

KBA-Notasys in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its former CEO and CFO have been investigated for corruption. The Swiss appear to be keeping a tight lid on the status of this case, at least in French. We haven’t made a real effort recently to search in German. KBA Notasys is in the French speaking part (Lausanne). However, KBA is a German company, and German language dominates Swiss government. In French from earlier this year: http://web.archive.org/web/20180208150425/https://www.tdg.ch/suisse/Deux-excadres-de-KBA-Notasys-juges-a-part/story/24763619

Over a fifth of Trump condos have been sold for cash, according to Thomas Frank at Buzzfeed news: http://web.archive.org/web/20180722080343/https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/thomasfrank/secret-money-how-trump-made-millions-selling-condos-to

From Europol:
“EU-WIDE ACTION AGAINST BUYERS OF COUNTERFEIT MONEY ON THE DARKNET 07 December 2018 Press Release
All over Europe, law enforcement agencies performed actions against suspects who bought counterfeit euro banknotes on illegal platforms on the Darknet. These actions, coordinated by Europol, started on 19 November and the majority of interventions took place from 3 to 6 December

In total, almost 300 house searches were conducted in 13 different countries and 235 suspects were detained. Law enforcement also seized around 1 500 counterfeit euro banknotes. Drugs, weapons (firearms, nunchaku, illegal knives and blades), computers, mobile phones, Bitcoins and hardware for mining virtual currencies were also seized. In addition, German authorities discovered two marijuana growing facilities and in France one additional illegal euro counterfeit print shop and one cannabis plantation were discovered.

These joint actions are a direct result of a successful case handled by the Austrian Federal Criminal Police Office in June in 2018 and supported by Europol, when a print shop was dismantled in Leoben, central Austria, and the producer was arrested. The suspect was making counterfeit 10, 20 and 50 euro banknotes and sold them on several illegal Darknet marketplaces. Over 10 000 counterfeit banknotes were shipped to buyers all over Europe.

During the raid, the Austrian police found evidence of his transactions and communicated this data to Europol. This information was analysed, enhanced and forwarded to all the affected countries. During an operational meeting at Europol’s headquarters, the Member States decided to organise a coordinated action to achieve the best results possible.

Earlier this week, Germany performed around 180 house searches, 28 were performed in France, 20 in Italy, 20 in Austria and actions also took place in Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Investigations in several countries are still ongoing. This joint effort of European law enforcement agencies shows once again that anonymity on the Darknet can be tackled with good international cooperation.

Europol’s Deputy Executive Director of Operations, Wil van Gemert, said: “This joint effort highlights that complete anonymity on the internet and the Darknet doesn’t exist. When you engage in illegal activity online, be prepared to have police knocking on your door sooner or later. Europol will continue to assist Member States in their efforts of protecting the euro against counterfeiting, both in the real world as in the virtual one.”
CRIME AREAS
Forgery of money and means of payment
Euro Counterfeiting
TARGET GROUPS
General Public
Law Enforcement
Academia
Professor
Students
Researcher
Press/Journalists
Other
COUNTRIES
Austria
Croatia
Cyprus
Finland
France
Germany
Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
Portugal
Spain
Switzerland
United Kingdom
SUPPORT & SERVICES
Operational coordination
Operational support
Information exchange” https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/eu-wide-action-against-buyers-of-counterfeit-money-darknet