A German bank has been caught handing out thousands of fake euros to customers.

Police who were alerted to the fact by a customer say they later confiscated 70,000 pounds worth of fake euros from the bank in Cologne, but did not say how the money came to be in the bank's coffers.

An unnamed female customer who was paid 5,000 euros (3,400 pounds) in fake cash from the KoelnBonn savings bank in Cologne's Longerich district was the first to raise the alert.

She said: "The notes were nearly all new. Then I noticed that they all had the same serial number."

The bank admitted it had not contacted the police straight away, claiming it wanted to carry out an internal investigation first.