Counterfeit? 2018 US Forever Flag Roll Of 100 Stamps

Hello,

I got this roll of stamps off ebay that I suspect might be fake. The seller seems legitimate, but they don't specialize in stamps. I compared them to a roll I got in the past from another seller and the new ones are slightly different. I tried shining a blacklight on them and there isn't much of a difference between the new and the old.

In all the images below the left picture is the older (genuine?) roll and the right picture is the new (counterfeit?) roll.

Several things. If the "new" stamps were a "bargain" their counterfeit. The "old" stamps could also be counterfeit. A seller being "legitimate" means nothing and established ebay accounts are traded on a daily basis. If you want genuine Forever stamps buy them from the USPS. The market is flooded with a torrent of Chinese counterfeits many of which are virtually impossible to distinguish from genuine since they are manufactured using the same production technology and equipment. Even the papers, inks and adhesives have now been perfected. There is no sure way to know that you are not contributing to the problem by looking for bargains.

My information is that there are at least 11 different versions of counterfeits of this stamp. The new roll is almost certainly counterfeit; the old stamp does not match any of the 7 versions that I was able to examine.