USPS Oig Report On Counterfeit Stamps 16 June 2026

They counterfeited #4959, which was engraved, but the one I saw wasn't very convincing by eye (but it would have passed your fingernail test).

Here is a Linn's article on the counterfeit Scott 4959's that Eyeonwall mentioned:

https://www.linns.com/news/second-v...graved-stamp

Edit to add:

I realized after posting the article link above that it dates from 2017 and there were a slew of stories in that year about newly discovered counterfeit stamps. It hammers home how long this problem has been going on and that the scale of fraud has been massive for as long. Almost ten years on before we see a comprehensive OIG report on the issue. Think of what must be billions of dollars that were lost during that time or that customers ended up paying. What should our postage rates be today if this had been addressed years ago.

Those "political posts" showed why this problem will never go away, and should not have been removed. Things do not happen in a vacuum, and many factors which at first seem immaterial are actually a part of the problem. The specific reasons for those factors may change, but the end result remains.

While the whole fakery started with the US (due to high profitability), it now covers almost the entirety of Europe countries as well.

My guess is the only way this fakery could be stopped is if someone could get the forgers to flood China with Chinese fakes. Then the Chinese government would likely step in. As long as it's profit for them, the Chinese government won't budge a bit. Curiously, as DT is looking for excuses to levy tariffs on everything and all, he doesn't care for obvious ways to levy tariffs on China....

The government could buy as many as possible and destroy them (since they are so cheap) Track who sells them and US buyers, build an address list. International shipments can be inspected. Watch for the heavy US users. Track behavior and and send a few letters of their own. Really wouldn't be that difficult. Hire a few philatelists for expertise.

"The government could buy as many as possible and destroy them (since they are so cheap) "

They would just make even larger quantities.

" Track who sells them and US buyers, build an address list. International shipments can be inspected. Watch for the heavy US users. Track behavior and and send a few letters of their own. Really wouldn't be that difficult."

You make it sound so easy. The only way to get any buyer and seller info from ebay is with their cooperation, which isn't forthcoming, and many of the sellers are probably giving ebay fake addresses. Getting any info at all from social media platforms would be even more difficult.

Just this week someone pointed me to an ebay seller out of the UK selling apparent US counterfeits.

That's where the tracking would come in... The Post office already scans everything it puts its hands on. How hard would it be to find out where they are coming from and where are they going? Forget ebay, I agree there would be a bit of set up, but it is so easy to find the sellers. Might still be too small potatoes, but the Post Office has a long history going after counterfeiters. Make a show of it, get a bunch and have a big bonfire invite the media and say that if you use these stamps you are breaking the law. Like I say, priorities are in play here. By the way, I like the dog sniffing idea...

The upper levels of people responsible for this are essentially untouchable, being in adversarial Countries by and large. The opportunists who reside in the States take some measures to insulate themselves unless they are stupid. The low hanging fruit is the end-user. You need to make it entirely clear that there will be consequences for using these stamps. Stop the demand and producing this stuff isn't as attractive and the bad guys will be off to their next project. These are stamps, not addictive drugs where targeting the user isn't as effective because of the addiction. If you make it MORE expensive or risky to use these fakes the problem is solved.