Selling Fake Autographs? Feds Watching
Those who believe
they can quietly buy and sell non-genuine
merchandise on eBay and get away with it might want
to check in with an eastern Pennsylvania man who
could be facing a long prison sentence.
The U.S. Attorney's office has filed an indictment
against Forrest R. Smith III of Reading. Smith is
charged with three counts of wire fraud and one
count of mail fraud. The indictment alleges that
Smith forged the signatures of famous authors in
copies of their books and then sold those books at
inflated prices on eBay.
The government's charges show Smith accused of
selling his items to over 400 different unsuspecting
buyers between 2002 and December 15 of last month.
Smith took in more than $300,000 from the sales.
“The system of buying and selling over the Internet
depends on trust,” said acting U.S. Attorney Laurie
Magid. “This defendant abused that trust to enrich
himself. Hundreds of collectors thought they were
purchasing valuable books bearing the signatures of
renowned authors. In reality, their appreciation for
the book or the author was being exploited to
satisfy one man’s greed.”
Smith created and used two different eBay accounts
to carry out his fraudulent scheme: one registered
in his name with the user identification of “bigdaddy_books,”
and one registered in his wife’s name with the user
identification of “bev103162smith.” According to the
indictment, Smith used the “bigdaddy_books” account
to purchase unsigned books, then forged authors’
signatures in them and re-sold them as “signed” from
the “bev103162smith” account. He was able to carry
out the scheme, in part, because he had obtained
documents containing authentic signatures of each
author and had ink-based stamps made for the
signatures. The indictment alleges that Smith then
used those ink-based stamps to place the false
signatures in the books he sold on eBay.
Smith allegedly forged autographs of deceased
writers including Michael Crichton, James Michener,
Norman Mailer, Leon Uris and Kurt Vonnegut, and
living authors John Irving and Tom Wolfe.
Sports collectors have seen the same type of scam
take place online with sellers faking not only
autographs, but wax packs. A seller will buy large
quantities of vintage wax pack wrappers, using them
to create 'packs' they list as 'unopened'. The
packs, filled with commons or low value cards, often
sell to naive buyers for a hefty profit. Sometimes
the sellers are brazen enough not to bother creating
separate eBay IDs, buying the wrappers and selling
vintage packs within weeks of each other.
Shipping fraudulent merchandise through the U.S.
Postal Service is a felony.
“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is committed to
protecting the public’s full confidence in the U.S.
mail system by actively pursuing individuals seeking
to use the U.S. mail in furtherance of any scheme
devised to defraud the public,” said U.S. Postal
Inspector-in-Charge Teresa Thome of the Philadelphia
Division.
If convicted of all charges, Smith faces a maximum
possible sentence of 80 years imprisonment, a
$1million fine, 12 years of supervised release, a
$400 statutory assessment, and restitution.
The case was investigated by the United States
Postal Inspection Service and is being prosecuted by
Assistant United States Attorney Mark B. Dubnoff.