Thai bat, old French francs, Jamaican dollars, pesos from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Argentina; Lithuanian litas, Turkish lira – you may have some of these coins in your pocket and not realised, or even unknowingly used them. Their striking resemblance to 1 and 2 euro coins makes them very easy to miss for those not paying attention. And retailers are the first to suffer. Despite the usual warnings, money from other countries, which is useless in Spain, is still circulating.
The Bank of Spain warns that using foreign currencies as payment is “fraudulent” and must be reported to the Civil Guard. However, they stress that as legal tender, it cannot be withdrawn as is the case with forgeries.
The fact remains, however, that after a matter of weeks some places may incur losses of as much as 15 euros as a result of foreign currency being as used as 1 and 2 euro coins.
In addition to the fact that the currencies mentioned above are worth less than the euro, the Bank of Spain does not accept their conversion into euros so it is very difficult to recoup their value.
Authorities are asking individuals to be diligent in checking the coins that they receive and the coins that they already have and not to assume that they are actually euros simply because on first inspection, they look,weigh and feel similar.
