A device for detecting electrically conductive particles in a liquid flowing in a pipe section, with a transmitter coil surrounding the pipe section for inducing eddy currents in the particles, at least one first inductive receiver coil surrounding the pipe section and a second inductive receiver coil which is spaced axially to the first receiver coil and which surrounds the pipe section, the first and the second receiver coils being located in the region of the transmitter coil and being subtractively connected, in order to output a difference signal according to the eddy currents induced by the transmitter coil, and the transmitter coil forming the primary side and the receiver coils forming the secondary side of a transformer arrangement. An evaluation unit evaluates the difference signal in order to detect passage of electrically conductive particles in the pipe section.