The Portugal law enforcement has reportedly confiscated €70,000 ($77,200) equivalent of assets, in a Europol-co-operated investigation, which was deemed the most ahead-of-its-time counterfeiting operations.

Reported by the Sputnik on September 10, the police department has managed to bust the major fraudulent ring, which produced counterfeited bills that are purchased online via dark webs, in exchange for Bitcoin (BTC). 

The operation has been going on for 2 years (2017), issuing roughly €1.3 million of fake notes. The head of the criminal establishment has been extradited from Columbia back to his home country Portugal to answer for his crime. 

Per the police report, the quality of work put into the process of making those dollar bills is among the top they have ever come across, with advanced features, nominally watermarks and holograms.

“Often they are only detected when entering bank deposits. In terms of normal trade, they are banknotes that pass quite easily,” police investigation coordinator, Luís Ribeiro, added. 

The report has specifically mentioned how the fraudsters turned to Bitcoin as a more viable solution for their wrongdoings – being a cryptocurrency – instead of fiat ones.