Graubünden man orders play money on the Internet and is targeted by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland

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• A man from Graubünden ordered play money on Amazon, which ended up at customs and triggered criminal proceedings due to its resemblance to real US dollar notes.
• The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland convicted him by summary penalty order for counterfeiting banknotes without intent to counterfeit.
• The offender must pay 500 francs in legal costs. The play money was destroyed.

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A man from Graubünden came under judicial scrutiny at the beginning of the year after he ordered a package containing play money and a money pistol on the Amazon shopping platform. However, the parcel did not end up with him, but with customs, who immediately sensed possible criminal proceedings.

The authorities suspiciously forwarded the shipment to the cantonal police in Graubünden. There, experts took a close look at the play money and counted it.

They reported back in mid-March 2025: The 149 banknotes bore the imprint "Prop Copy" or the note "No means of payment" in red Cyrillic script.

However, because the notes otherwise looked deceptively similar to genuine US dollar banknotes, they "appeared genuine from a distance", according to Fedpol experts.

From the investigators' point of view, this means The man from Graubünden could have put counterfeit money worth 4599 US dollars (around 3700 francs) into circulation with an order worth 90 euros.

300 franc fine with probationary period

Consequence: The investigators summoned him for questioning in March. There he explained that he was aware of the ban on importing counterfeit money. For him, however, it was not counterfeit money, but pure play money, intended for a party and "fun games".

The case was finally referred to the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland. They classified the man's behavior as criminally relevant: he had acted "carelessly and in breach of duty". He was therefore convicted by summary penalty order for counterfeiting banknotes without intent to counterfeit.

blue News was able to view the penalty order. The man from Graubünden did not wish to comment when asked: "For me, this case is closed."

The conviction has financial consequences for him in particular. He has to pay 500 francs in legal costs. The fine of ten daily rates of 30 francs each was imposed conditionally, with a probationary period of two years. In other words, if he remains unpunished for the next two years, he will not have to pay the fine.

National Bank names possible criteria

Whether a play money note is legally considered counterfeit money is decided on a case-by-case basis. The Swiss National Bank provides examples online of the requirements it believes play money must meet in order to avoid any risk of confusion with genuine notes.

It mentions the imprint "SPECIMEN", for example: it must cover at least three quarters of the length and 15 percent of the width of the note and be clearly recognizable in terms of colour. The size can also help: Play money must be significantly smaller (around 66 percent) or significantly larger (over 150 percent) than the original format.

The Bündner's order did not meet either of these criteria. Consequence: The goods were destroyed and will involuntarily drive up the counterfeit money statistics. In recent years, Fedpol has only registered a few counterfeit low-denomination US dollar notes.

With the conviction of the man from Graubünden, however, between 24 and 25 banknotes of almost all denominations (1 to 100 dollars) will now suddenly appear in the statistics.