National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

conclusion has to be that there are serious consequences due to the physical
and psychological harm suffered by victims. It is difficult, however, to determine
the number and size of these networks, and the involvement of Dutch nationals.
Moreover, the assumed group dynamics of these networks and the effect on
the (indirect) form of collaboration between its members require further
investigation. This is why the qualification of blank spot has been given to the
non-commercial production and distribution of images of child abuse online.
2.10 Producing and distributing counterfeit money 36
2.10.1 Introduction and scope
The counterfeiting or falsifying of money as such is not a criminal offence.
It only becomes a criminal offence if people intend to spend the money (or cause
it to be spent) as if it were real and not counterfeit (sections 208 and 209 of the
Penal Code). Money is counterfeit when coins or notes are copied in full.
Money is falsified when a real note (or a real coin) is modified (by changing the
denomination, for example). Falsified money will not be discussed in this section.
The focus here is on the production and distribution of counterfeit money, which
means the forgery of money and/or the deliberate distribution and spending
of counterfeit money as if it were real and not counterfeit.
2.10.2 General context
In early 2007 a preliminary study was conducted on counterfeit money.
This preliminary study was supposed to show whether further research into
this subject was required in order to establish a qualification as part of the NTA.
The conclusion was that further research was not required. In the previous
NTA (2004) the presence of counterfeit money was not included as a threat
due to its limited scale, and since then the scale had only decreased. In the
meantime, however, it has become clear just at the last moment that the
decrease in the number of counterfeit euro notes has not continued; since
early 2007 there has even been a significant increase. This is sufficient reason
to discuss the development of the scale of the activities here in more detail.
36
This section is based on an internal document on this subject that was drawn up for the
NTA 2008 preliminary study; no separate substudy was carried out on this subject (see Chapter
1). The author of this document is F. Nieuwenhuis of the Department of International Police
Information (Dienst IPOL). In addition, the IPOL document entitled Overzichtsrapportage vals
geld 2007 by M. Naber was used.
chapter 2 – Illegal markets
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