If you are planning to visit Spain once travel restrictions are lifted, watch out for fake money.
As Spain jumps back to normal and the country opens its boundaries for tourists and travellers, another major concern looms in the air. The police and government has urged tourists or anyone visiting the country to do a thorough check of their travelling cash as the country is witnessing a scam involving Euros.
Tourists are being asked to be careful and cautious about the bills they are carrying as the country is found to be flooded with fake &lsquomovie money&rsquo worth thousands of pounds.
Till now, two gangs have been busted in connection to this scam one in the Éibar district of Guipúzcoa in the Basque region, and another in Palencia in Castile and León with five people arrested and investigations still underway.
The police is of the view that the gangs were trying to sell the counterfeits over the internet, and were able to deceive checking machines in shops.
The denominations were mainly of 10, 20 and 50 Euro bills. They would use a fake 50 Euro note to buy snacks and refreshments, and collect large amounts of changein authentic Euro. This way they spread the movie money in the markets. Their total 'value' exceeded £4,000 but it is believed 100,000 fake Euros were sold over the internet.
Police says that they even scraped off the words "this is not legal", usually printed on movie notes and used several markers and inks to give the near perfect shine and packaging including the holographic strip and security window, among others, to make them look more authentic.