Italian police arrested 12 people, including four Chinese nationals, after confiscating 556,000 euros ($692,000) worth of fake euro coins that were made in China. It it the largest seizure of counterfeit euro coins ever.

Italy's Carabinieri paramilitary police, as part of what it called its "Shanghai Money" investigation, seized the haul from a ship container in Naples. The 12 detainees were charged with conspiracy to produce and distribute counterfeit money, according to investigators.

Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

"They were high-quality fakes produced at a clandestine Chinese mint and ready to be put on the Italian market just before the Christmas spending rush," reports Reuters per the arrest warrant.

There were a total of 306,000 coins seized, which were in 1- and 2-euro denominations, according to Palermo prosecutor Calogero Ferrara, who led the investigation. He said that the 2-euro coins were a "perfect product" that were indistinguishable from an authentic coin.

He said that the 2-euro coins would have worked in vending machines. According to Reuters, the Naples area is known for euro counterfeiting. However, this is the first time that police have found fake euros made in China and shipped to Europe.

The European Central Bank says that counterfeit euros are only a small fraction of currency circulating in Europe.

At the same time in China, Beijing News reports that a user of Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo has discovered that fake euro coins were being sold on Alibaba's online shopping site Taobao.

"The yuan-to-euro exchange rate is less than 8 and people are spending 500 yuan to buy fakes. Unbelievable!" a Weibo user commented.

 Yuan Yinlong, a coin specialist, said that with current manufacturing technology, forging coins is not difficult.

Taobao officials addressed the illegal selling and said that staff have been looking into whether the coins are real or counterfeit, and promise that any illegal products will be removed from the site.

TagsChinese Counterfeiters Arrested in Largest Ever Haul of Fake Euro Coins, Shanghai Money, a ship container in Naples, Calogero Ferrara, Taobao, Carabinieri paramilitary police