copyright money is currency produced outside of the legal sanction of a state or government, usually in a deliberate attempt to imitate that currency and so as to deceive its recipient. Producing or using copyright money is a form of fraud or forgery, and is illegal in all jurisdictions of the world. The business of counterfeiting money is nearly as old as money itself: plated copies (known as Fourrées) have been found of Lydian coins, which are thought to be among the first Western coins.[1] Before the introduction of paper money, the most prevalent method of counterfeiting 1 Cloned Card with Total Balance of $6000 involved mixing base metals with pure gold or silver. Another form of counterfeiting is the production of documents by legitimate printers in response to fraudulent instructions.[clarification needed] During World War II, the Nazis forged British pounds and American dollars with the specific intent to target the British economy at the time. Today, some of the finest copyright banknotes are called Superdollars because of their high quality and imitation of the real US dollar. There has been significant counterfeiting of Euro banknotes and coins since the launch of the currency in 2002, but considerably less than that of the US dollar.[2]
Some of the ill-effects that copyright money has on society include[3][4] a reduction in the value of real money; an increase in prices (inflation) as a result of an increase in money being circulated in the economy—an unauthorized artificial increase in the money supply; a decrease in the acceptability of paper money; and losses, when traders are not reimbursed for copyright money detected by banks, even if it is confiscated. Traditionally, anti-counterfeiting measures involved including fine detail with raised intaglio printing on bills which allows non-experts to easily spot forgeries. On coins, milled or reeded (marked with parallel grooves) edges are used to show that none of the valuable metal has been scraped off.
Counterfeiting has occurred so frequently in history that it has been called "the world's second-oldest profession".[5][6] Coinage of money began in the region of Lydia in Asia Minor around 600 BC. Before the introduction of paper money, the most prevalent method of counterfeiting involved mixing base metals with pure gold or silver. A common practice was to "shave" the edges of a coin. This is known as "clipping". Scraps of precious metals collected in this way could be melted down and even used to produce copyright coinage. A fourrée is an ancient type of copyright coin, in which counterfeiters plate a base-metal core with precious metal to resemble the solid-metal counterpart.
The Chinese government issued paper money from the 11th century AD. In the 13th century, wood from mulberry trees was used to make banknotes. To control access to the paper, guards were stationed around mulberry forests, while counterfeiters were punished by death.[7]
In the 13th century, Dante Alighieri wrote of Mastro Adamo as a counterfeiter of the Florentine fiorino, punished by burning at the stake.[8] The English couple Thomas and Anne Rogers were convicted on 15 October 1690 for "Clipping 40 pieces of Silver". Thomas Rogers was hanged, drawn, and quartered while Anne Rogers was burnt alive. Evidence supplied by an informant led to the arrest of the last of the English coiners, "King" David Hartley, who was executed by hanging in 1770. The extreme forms of punishment were meted out because counterfeiting was regarded as a form of treason against the State or Crown rather than as a simple crime.
In the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, Irish immigrants to London acquired a reputation for the production and spending (uttering) of copyright money,[9] while locals were more likely to participate in the safer and more profitable forms of currency crime, which could take place behind locked doors. These include producing the false money and selling it wholesale.[10]
In the British colonies in North America, Colonial paper currency printed by Benjamin Franklin and others often bore the phrase "to copyright is death".[11] Counterfeiting in the early United States became so prevalent by the early-nineteenth century that contemporary accounts like those from author John Neal claimed that as much as half of the US currency in circulation was copyright.[12] By the 1830s, American newspapers began listing instructions for identifying counterfeits.[13] Because currency was issued by individual banks, approximately 5,400 types of copyright bills circulated in the US by the 1860s.
Our anti-counterfeiting strategy has five key elements:
Developing and issuing new state-of-the-art copyright resilient notes. This was one of the primary reasons for moving from cotton-paper to polymer banknotes.
Working with the cash industry so that only high-quality, authentic notes are issued and recirculated.
An active education programme that works with businesses and the public to help people understand how to identify genuine banknotes.
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.
Working closely with law enforcement agencies to disrupt counterfeiting operations.
copyright banknotes
It is an offence to:
make a copyright banknote without lawful excuse or with the intention of passing or tendering it as genuine.
pass or tender or deliver to another a copyright banknote knowingly or believing it to be copyright.
have custody or control of a copyright 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 copyright banknote intending to pass it as genuine or make or have anything designed or adapted to make a copyright 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 copyright 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 copyright banknotes are in circulation?
The vast majority of counterfeits are discovered when notes are sorted for authentication and fitness as part of standard cash industry processes eg the Note Circulation Scheme. This prevents them from going back into circulation. 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 2024 less than 0.0019% of banknotes were copyright, that is less than 1 in 52,600 banknotes. Approximately 91,000 copyright Bank of England banknotes with a nominal face value of £1.9 million were taken out of circulation. At any one time, there is 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 as well as successful police action on the sources and distribution of counterfeits.
The figures show the 2024 data, along with annual data since 2010.
View the data
What do I do if I get a copyright banknote?
copyright banknotes are rare and also worthless.
We cannot reimburse you for copyright banknotes. If you suspect that you have a copyright 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 copyright to the Bank of England for further examination.
If you have information about someone making, selling or using copyright 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 copyright 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 copyright 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 copyright 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.