Number of forged banknotes has declined from a high level
Published: 10 March 2025
Another type of fraud is counterfeit banknotes. The number of counterfeit banknotes submitted to the police in Sweden has decreased from a historically high level of 6,629 in 2020 to 3,109 in 2024 (see Banknote and coin statistics). Swedish banknotes have advanced security features and the counterfeits found by the police are often simple copies (see Security features). It is almost only 500-krona banknotes that are counterfeited. However, as fewer and fewer people in Sweden use cash, the knowledge of what a banknote looks and feels like is decreasing, which increases the risk of counterfeits being mistaken for the real thing.
FACT BOX – Virtual cards provide better fraud protection but usually do not work offline
In recent years, more and more people have started using virtual cards in their mobile phone, smart watch or other so-called wearable technology when making payments. People often use services like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Google Pay.
All of the services mentioned use a technique called tokenisation. This is a technique used in various contexts, see Chapter 1.4 for a description of asset tokenisation. In this context, card details are exchanged for a digital representation of a card (token), which is stored in, for example, your mobile phone. This token can only be used on the device on which it is stored and does not contain any information that can be misused by fraudsters. This means that card payments made with virtual cards have very strong protection against card fraud.
However, in the event of disruptions to communication networks, card payments made with virtual cards will not work in Sweden. This is because the current ability to make so-called offline payments through local authorisation is programmed into the physical card's chip. It is therefore a good idea to have access to physical cards and to remember their pin code, even if you use your mobile phone for everyday card payments.