Slovenian central bank warns of counterfeit dollars

The Slovenian central bank has warned banks and their clients of counterfeit money after one of the banks in Slovenia issued two counterfeit 100 U.S. dollar bills of very good quality to a customer.

The warning came after a branch of Dezelna banka Slovenije had issued two 100 dollar bills to a customer. According to the daily Vecer, the man realized the bills were forged while travelling in the United States, the official Slovenian Press Agency (STA) reported on Wednesday.

Upon the customer's return, the bills were confirmed fake also by the National Forensic Laboratory. The bank could initially not believe that the bills were fake, as no other such bills had been discovered by the bank.

The police said that 16 similar counterfeit 100 dollar bills had been seized this year and it was believed that they came from the same batch, the STA report said.

"These are quality fakes but they can be detected with a UV light," the Maribor Police Administration said.

Banka Slovenija said on Tuesday that all banks and other institutions handling money are obligated to check euro bills before issuing them back out.

The central bank also said that nearly 2,440 counterfeit euro bills and 1,120 fake euro coins, as well as 335 phoney dollar bills were seized in Slovenia last year. Endit