Fake 5 Swiss franc coins on web shop platform

The Swiss 5 francs coin can be purchased on the sales platform Aliexpress, belonging to the Chinese group Alibaba, paying only $ 1.99 (about 2 francs).

The retailer specifies on its website that it is fake money. However, it is sent free of customs duties, may also be received in Switzerland, without being subject to border checks. These are coins that are intended for collectors and being their illegal use, anyone did it, would risk to be charged.

The Federal Police Office spokesman Lulzana Musliu however points out that if customs were to stumble on these coins, these would most likely be confiscated, because they do not show quite explicitly being a reproduction. According to Fedpol, in 2015 in Switzerland were intercepted more than 7,600 coins of 5 francs false, but given the amount of mail coming from Asia each year, about 20,000 packages, many more may have passed inspection .

In 2014 summmer fake coins had been circulating around Geneva and Lausanne for two months.

First to react to the problem, Swiss Post, the national post office, trained its staff to recognize the imitation coins, which were the same weight as real five-franc pieces, but were less shiny and were more coarsely engraved.