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Italy seizes more than €28 million in fake bank notes

Italian police announced on Monday the arrest of 13 suspected counterfeiters and the seizure of more than 900,000 high-quality fake banknotes with a value of more than €28 million.

Published: 14 November 2017 10:06 CET

Italy seizes more than €28 million in fake bank notes

Counterfeit euro notes. Photo: Arne Dedert/DPA/AFP.

“During the investigation three underground printworks, including one in Romania, were discovered equipped with the machines and instruments needed to manufacture counterfeit notes,” police said in a statement.

“More than €28 million [$33 million] in counterfeit notes were seized – 939,775 notes of €10, €20 and €50 – and 13 people were caught in the act and arrested.”

READ MORE: Europol cracks Italian fake money gang

The two alleged ringleaders of the gang are Neapolitans with “long experience” in the area of counterfeiting, police said.

They are suspected of setting up the facilities and forging links with Italians living in Romania to print fake cash.

Police said the counterfeiters found buildings that did not arouse suspicion, before setting up short-term presses to make counterfeit notes for ten to 15 days.

“During that time, they were able to print more than 15 million euros in counterfeit notes.

“Then they stopped the operation, and sometimes transferred the whole print shop to another building,” police said.

Italy remains the leading producer of counterfeit banknotes, with the Camorra – the Neapolitan mafia – controlling the vast majority.

READ MORE: Italian counterfeiters 'crank out new €20 note' in Naples

MAP: Where in Italy is car insurance cheapest - and most expensive?

Car insurance has been in the news in Italy this week following media reports of an emerging insurance evasion tactic that sees growing numbers of Italian motorists dodge steep coverage charges by having their vehicle registered in another EU country, with Poland being the most popular choice.

The phenomenon, which is estimated to have already led to the presence of over 50,000 foreign-plate vehicles in the country, follows major increases in car insurance costs in recent years, with the average cost of third-party liability insurance (Responsabilita’ Civile or RC in Italian) rising by over 10 percent in the past two years.

But, as consumer groups say these increases are “totally unjustified”, how much does insuring a vehicle currently cost in Italy?

According to the latest available data from Italy’s insurance supervision authority IVASS, the average cost of the compulsory RC coverage – this only covers the costs of damage and injury to other parties – is 395 euros a year.

For reference, minimum compulsory insurance costs motorists in Germany 304 euros a year on average, whereas drivers in Greece and Poland spend an average of 145 and 120 euros respectively every year, according to data from national auto repair shop association Federcarrozzieri.

READ ALSO: How can you lose your driving licence in Italy?

It’s also worth noting that motorists in Italy often choose to tack on one or more optional insurance policies (these are known as ‘additional guarantees’ or garanzie accessorie) to their basic RC coverage, with additional expenses amounting to somewhere between 400 and 500 euros in some cases.

While there is no publicly available data on how the costs of insurance add-ons vary around the country, IVASS regularly publishes a breakdown of the cost of RC coverage by Italian province.

The latest available report, which refers to data collected in February 2024, shows stark differences in insurance charges around the country, with a 280-euro gap separating the most expensive province (Naples) from the most affordable one (Enna, Sicily).

Besides Naples (569 euros a year on average), the list of ten most expensive Italian provinces for basic RC policies is completed by: Prato (565 euros), Caserta (508), Florence (483), Pistoia (482), Massa-Carrara (480), Lucca (464), Pisa (454), Roma (451) and Genoa (441).

Six of these provinces are located in Tuscany.

READ ALSO: The key vocabulary you’ll need for taking your driving test in Italy

On the other end of the spectrum, Enna (289 euros a year) is followed by: Oristano (297), Potenza (301), Pordenone (312), Vercelli (315), Biella (316), Aosta (316), Campobasso (321), Trento (322), Udine (324) and Gorizia (325).

What’s behind these differences?

The cost of Italy’s RC policy varies depending on the characteristics of the vehicle needing insurance as well as a driver’s personal details, with their location playing a major role in the final bill.

In particular, insurance costs are higher in areas with a high frequency of car accidents (hence why insurance tends to be more expensive in large metropolitan areas than in rural areas) and in areas with high rates of insurance fraud and insurance evasion (an estimated 2.6 million vehicles circulate in the country without the mandatory RC coverage).

Though Giuseppe Conte’s government in 2018 advanced plans to standardise the cost of basic RC insurance and apply the same charge (or tariffa unica) to all motorists around the country, these were later abandoned following consumer groups’ concerns that the new system would ultimately penalise drivers in “the more virtuous provinces”.

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