Counterfeit banknotes

Overview

Our anti-counterfeiting strategy has five key elements:

1. Developing and issuing new state-of-the-art counterfeit resilient notes. This was one of the primary reasons for moving from cotton-paper to polymer banknotes.
2. Working with the cash industry so that only high-quality, authentic notes are issued and recirculated.
3. An active education programme that works with businesses and the public to help people understand how to identify genuine banknotes.
4. Providing a framework for cash machine companies and those companies that own or operate ATMs so that they can test and prove that their equipment and processes meets minimum authentication standards.
5. Working closely with law enforcement agencies to disrupt counterfeiting operations.

Counterfeit banknotes

It is an offence to: 

• make a counterfeit banknote without lawful excuse or with the intention of passing or tendering it as genuine.
• pass or tender or deliver to another a counterfeit banknote knowingly or believing it to be counterfeit.
• have custody or control of a counterfeit banknote intending to pass or tender or deliver it as genuine or have in custody or control without lawful excuse.
• have custody or control of anything intending to or allowing any person to use it to make a counterfeit banknote intending to pass it as genuine or make or have anything designed or adapted to make a counterfeit banknote without lawful excuse.

It is a criminal offence to possess, pass (including sale), make or import these notes. (Section(s) 16, 15, 14 & 20 of the Forgery & Counterfeiting Act 1981). 

The maximum sentence for offences under the Act is 10 years imprisonment. 

In addition, following conviction, assets may be confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA Financial Confiscation Investigation).

Banknote images/reproductions and the law

It is an offence to reproduce banknotes issued by us, or part of banknotes issued by us, on any substance or to any scale without our consent. 
For the avoidance of doubt, consent for items, including those marketed as ‘Movie’, ‘Prop’, ‘Training’ or similar, can ONLY be obtained if such items meet our reproduction conditions.  For example, these reproductions:

• MUST NOT be Double-sided with images of a banknote on both the front and the back.
• MUST NOT be the same size as Bank of England banknotes; instead, they must be at least 25% smaller or at least 25% larger.
• MUST NOT be printed on a similar material to that used for current Bank of England notes, unless it also meets either condition 5(b) or 5(c) as set out in detail.

For a full list of the conditions, please see our Using Images of Banknotes page.

An item that contains reproduced images of our banknotes in a way that does not meet our reproduction conditions may be counterfeit and may result in prosecution under UK legislation: Forgery & Counterfeiting Act 1981 (Part II) – even where items are printed with additional text such as ‘Movie’ ‘Prop’ ‘Training’ etc.

How many counterfeit banknotes are in circulation?

The vast majority of counterfeits are discovered before they go back into circulation, when notes are sorted for authentication and fitness as part of standard cash industry processes eg the Note Circulation Scheme. A smaller number are detected by the public or retailers who hand them directly to the police, or when the police carry out search warrants. Counterfeits are typically removed from circulation quickly, often after a single use.

In 2023 typically less than 0.0025% of banknotes were counterfeit, that is less than 1 in 40,000 banknotes. Some 116,000 counterfeit Bank of England banknotes with a nominal face value of £2.5 million were taken out of circulation. At any one time, there are around 4.6 billion genuine banknotes in circulation, with a notional face value of £82 billion.

Counterfeiting has substantially reduced since 2019 as a result of a combination of factors such as the introduction of more robust polymer banknotes, the withdrawal of the older paper designs, successful police action on the sources and distribution of counterfeits and the general move to electronic payments.

The figures show the 2023 data, along with annual data since 2009

View the data

What do I do if I get a counterfeit banknote?

Counterfeit banknotes are rare and also worthless. 

We cannot reimburse you for counterfeit banknotes. If you suspect that you have a counterfeit banknote, please take it to your nearest police station. The police should fill out an NCO-1 form and provide you with a receipt and incident number. The suspect notes will be sent to the National Crime Agency and if counterfeit to the Bank of England for further examination.

If you have information about someone making, selling or using counterfeit banknotes, please contact the police or phone Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

We are aware of a small number of online accounts claiming to provide counterfeit banknotes – often these are cases of deceptive fraud (scams), even where they show images or video. These ‘adverts’ may be seen on social media, marketplaces and forums. You should never attempt to purchase any of these items. If you see counterfeit banknotes being advertised online, please report this to the hosting website’s dedicated reporting team (as listed on the hosting website’s help page). By reporting such activity directly to the website host, you can help reduce this type of online activity.

Counterfeiting directly funds organised crime. It hurts the UK economy by creating losses for businesses, which ultimately affects the cost of things that we buy. It also affects the pocket of anyone who receives a counterfeit note, as they are worthless. If you report counterfeiting to the police, you are helping with investigations and alerting them to a problem in their area. This means that they can take action to protect your community.

How to check your banknotes