Look out for fake €50 bank notes

GROWING numbers of fake €50 notes are doing the rounds in France - and across the rest of the eurozone - authorities have warned.

€20 and €50 notes are the most popular denominations for counterfeiters, making up 90% of the fake notes seized by police in the first three months of this year.

To try to reduce the problem, the European Central Bank will issue a new €20 note by late November - but the number of counterfeit €50 notes is up about a third on the same period last year.

Across Europe, 454,000 counterfeit notes were withdrawn from circulation in the first quarter of 2015.

The ECB says people should routinely check the notes they are given - how they feel and whether they have a watermark and hologram.

Notes up to €20 have a bright strip through the middle. Above €50 the strip changes colour when moved against a light.