A counterfeit cash operation has been unearthed inside a young man’s bedroom on the Costa del Sol.
According to the Policia Nacional, the suspect was producing fake €20, €50 and €100 notes and selling them online in exchange fro cryptocurrency.
The operation, led with support from the Tax Agency and Europol, exposed a surprisingly sophisticated setup run from what officers described as a ‘clandestine laboratory’.
Investigators said the suspect was not just printing fake cash for local use, but advertising it on the dark web and accepting payment in cryptocurrency,
The counterfeit notes would then be shipped to buyers across Europe.
The investigation began in October after Austrian authorities flagged suspicious purchases of fake euros online.
That tip-off led Spanish police to track a pattern of parcels being sent from Malaga to multiple European countries.
Many of the packages were intercepted and all followed a similar method. They contained counterfeit banknotes and had been sent using false sender details to avoid detection. Germany was identified as one of the main destinations.
In total, officers linked the suspect to more than 500 shipments of fake currency.
One breakthrough came when a young man of Asian origin was arrested carrying counterfeit notes received in a package traced back to Malaga, helping investigators connect the network.
Inside the bedroom ‘money factory’
When police finally identified the alleged ringleader, they carried out two searches of properties linked to him. What they found inside was effectively a home-run forgery workshop.
Officers seized a range of specialist equipment used to replicate banknotes, including printers, holographic paper, metal foil rolls, manual presses, cutting tools and materials designed to imitate watermarks and security features.
They also recovered €28,350 in fake cash ready for distribution, along with cryptocurrency assets valued at around €143,000.
Dark web sales and crypto payments
According to police, the suspect used the anonymity of the dark web to market the fake notes, with transactions carried out in cryptocurrency to make them harder to trace.
The combination of online sales, fake identities and international shipping allowed the operation to run for months before being shut down.
The suspect has now been arrested and brought before a judge, as investigators continue to analyse the full scope of the network.
Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.
