I Am New Here. Needing Help With Identifying Fake Forever Stamps.

Hello,

As the subject states, I'm new here.

Anyway, I came across posts in this forum through a search engine.

I purchased some Forever Stamps through an online auction site. I didn't initially suspect a fraudulent stamp issue and I checked the user's feedback rating, which was 100% positive.

However, I didn't initially read the reviews and the associated links to the auction items for each review. I just went off of the 100% positive rating. Anyway, after purchasing, I went back and and looked at the items associated with the reviews and none of them were associated with the Forever (Flag) postage stamps even though the auction showed a large percentage of the stamps sold.

I haven't received the stamps yet, but I realize that someone selling stamps (or anything else) can use "stock" images.

Any suggestions?

Korey

While you did not say which "online auction site" you used, it is a well know secret that many fake forever stamps are peddled on ebay. Real forever stamps too show up on ebay at the same discounted pricing and are likely those which "feel off the truck" or left via "the side door" or otherwise "liberated" from a unsuspecting former owner.

It is so bad now a days, the main US Stamp Catalog, Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps & Covers has pages of entries of counterfeit stamps produced and sold to the public.

What you purchased should show up eventually.

koreys,

Collecting for the enjoyment of collecting, whatever that might be, is the name of the game. Don't hesitate to ask questions especially if you need basic information and especially more advanced sources of information for any possible topic. You should be able to find folks on this board a little further along on their collecting journey glad to share experiences. Russ

Koreys - If you use this forum's search engine specifically it will return a trove of info including ID of fake Forever stamps and some great links to help you out. The USPS estimates losses due to these fakes to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars so it is no small crime in sum total.

Koreys, another suggestion. When your order arrives post a good, sharp picture or scan of a stamp here. We can usually tell what is going on


Peter

If you own a UV lamp useful for identifying tagging, you have a quick way to determine if the stamps are genuine. Not a guarantee, but almost all counterfeits are untagged. It is possible that a genuine stamp can be untagged, but if it is not tagged then further inspection is needed. The section on Postal Counterfeits will give you excellent information on previously identified postal counterfeits.