Is there any set that the forgers will not copy?

My thanks to reader BB who sent me a surprise package of assorted forgeries before the weekend.

The dog from the 2001 1st class self-adhesive Cats & Dogs set (and booklet) looks very good - until you compare it with a genuine one.

2001 Cats & Dogs (part set)  - and forgery above.

The forgery has a totally different appearance and even has pseudo-phosphor bands, which are much wider than the originals, and much more pronounced.  That was used by a 'proud member of the PTS' who I shall not name.

BB also sent this sheet of the more recent Cats 1st class stamps from 2022.  There are no phosphor bands on these which have ordinary gum, but otherwise they are very passable copies of the originals.

1st class Cats sheet 2022 - forgery with no phosphor bands.

These were sent by the eBay seller by special delivery - in this envelope.   The postage is paid with 4 x 1st class Large Christmas stamps, with a total face value £8.40 -  well above the postage rate of £7.95.  And of course the seller didn't worry about overpayment because all these are forgeries as well!

Four forged 1st class Christmas stamps (3 different) overpaying the Special Delivery postage rate.

So if you collect forgeries, there are still plenty available and you can usually find them at good prices because they are sold for postage.

But if you want genuine stamps at low prices then you need to buy from a reliable dealer.  We still have plenty of stock in our shop - 1st class, or airmail. 

 

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News snippets for September 2024

Greetings everybody, we're back from Ireland where the weather was much better than it has been, and remains, here in the UK.    A taste of this was the yellow alert issued for the eastern side of Northern Ireland after we sailed to Scotland on Wednesday, and what we had for a considerable time in Co Durham and the north east yesterday which continues today- after a sunny interlude across Lincolnshire yesterday afternoon - in Norfolk.

It's happened before that important announcements are made when we take a break, so this is a quick acknowledgement to the many people who have written in the last three weeks.

The following topics will be covered in blog posts soon:

- September slogan postmarks

- Postage rate increase meaning a new airmail rate stamp (and Royal Mail have confirmed that there will be no more airmail rate country definitives.

- outstanding orders: sorry I forgot to shut the shop so a few orders have been delayed.

- the person who wrote about Universal Mail will get a reply eventually!

- forgeries and how Royal Mail is dealing with them

- amazingly incorrect information being supplied by Post Office branches including Crown Offices. (You don't have to use old stamps before the price increase!)

- I'll also be writing about blog comments which have not been published.  Comments must be relevant to the post they are on.

UPDATE  So circumstances conspired to prevent my dealing with these in a timely manner.

1. Royal Mail is not presently surcharging any mail which apparently has postage paid with a forgery, so no 'yellow-label' mail at present.  This despite the scanner addition to the Royal Mail app, and Stanley Gibbons being engaged to adjudicate on disputes over surcharged non-forgeries.

2. There was a short spate of incorrect information being provided by POs, in comments here, by emails to me in August, and on social media platforms.  Sadly I have lost track of where so this topic will await new instances and reports.

3. This continues, unfortunately, and often from people who are either anonymous or who I don't know from their nickname.  Comments must be relevant to the post they are on.  I am not going to reply, even when the topic is worth it, on a comment which is irrelevant to the subject post.  

Also, if you have a question or a comment on something older or more obscure, it is worth using the search box a the top left, to find out if this has been the subject of an earlier blog post.   We have covered the new Tracked 24 and 48 service and the fact that you can NOT use stamps for it.  And that compensation on Signed For has dropped from £50 to £20.  But if you still have questions about that, then that is the place to ask them, or use email.

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Royal Mail launches counterfeit stamp scanner in app

News Release about the Counterfeit Checker app:

Royal Mail today announces the addition of a new stamp scanner to its mobile phone app that will enable customers to check if a stamp is a known counterfeit.

The stamp scanner has been designed to provide extra reassurance to customers who may be unsure about whether a stamp is counterfeit or not. Customers can use the app to check whether it is a known counterfeit, preventing them from inadvertently becoming victims of fraud.

The counterfeit stamp scanner is available to customers who have downloaded the Royal Mail app. The free-to-use app has been downloaded onto more than 12 million phones and receives 4 million unique visitors each month.

Social media publicity for the new scanner.

Once the barcode on the stamp is scanned, the customer will be told whether it is scanning as a recognised counterfeit or not. If customers did not purchase their stamps from Royal Mail, the Post Office or another reputable High Street outlet, they are advised to scan their stamps on each occasion before use.

Independent arbitrator

A further measure being announced is the introduction of an expert from stamp dealers, Stanley Gibbons, as an independent arbitrator in cases requiring resolution.

The arbitration process will be activated only in cases where a surcharge has been raised and disputed by the customer. If Royal Mail’s complaints procedure has been exhausted without resolution, arbitration will be the final stage of the process.

This will involve Stanley Gibbons conducting an examination of the physical stamp identified by Royal Mail as being counterfeit. Their decision will be fully independent of Royal Mail and the judgement binding.

Customers cannot send their stamps in direct to Stanley Gibbons for assessment without going through the Royal Mail complaints process in the first instance.

Partnership working with retailers and online marketplaces

Royal Mail also committed to increased partnership working with retailers and online marketplaces. The retailers the company has strengthened their engagement with are responsible for around 90% of stamp purchases from Royal Mail. This activity will help to build customer confidence, while maintaining pressure on the criminals who seek to profit from mass producing counterfeit stamps.

In addition, the company’s social media and online platforms continue to raise public awareness about counterfeit stamps, including revised guidance and advice to help customers protect themselves.

Royal Mail will also extend the pause on the collection of the surcharge for recipients receiving mail using counterfeit stamps and continue, where possible, to seek to locate and surcharge the sender. The temporary pause will be kept under review. During this extension period, Royal Mail will maintain the process of applying stickers to items to advise the recipient that the stamp used has scanned as counterfeit.

Nick Landon, Chief Commercial Officer, said: “We continue to do all we can to protect our customers from the scourge of counterfeit stamps, and since introducing barcoded stamps we have reduced the number of counterfeit stamps in our network by around 90%. The new counterfeit stamp scanner on the Royal Mail app will help prevent customers inadvertently falling victim to stamp fraud.

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The app correctly identified most of the barcoded stamps which I know to be forgeries - high value Machins, Christmas and England country 1st class. But it failed to identify the 2nd Large and 1st Large forgeries, and one of the earlier Christmas stamps.

 

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Christmas 2021 forgery may be from a different producer to most

I was shown a new forgery this week which does not have all the hallmarks of the usual Chinese forgery productions.

It was far glossier than most, and the perforations were not up to the usual high (matching) standard.  It's the 2021 1st class Large Christmas stamp.  Now forgeries of the Machins were already better than this, so it's not a case of all the older forgeries not being of high standard.

This isn't a great photo but it was the best I could manage in a church hall!

Forged 1st class large Christmas 2021 stamp

Has anybody seen any others like this?

UPDATE 15 July.

My thanks to Lew who has sent this image of a block of 4 that he bought.  He notes that the barcodes are identical and the scan is PC: 00000000000000  - just like the RM publicity photos.

Block of 4 forged 1st class large Christmas 2021 stamps, with identical datamatrix codes.

 

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News snippets June 2024

This post has a collection of short pieces not really warranting a whole blog post of their own.

Beyond the Definitives

Last year we discussed what products would need to change apart from postage stamps, with Horizon and Post & Go Labels being obvious examples.

Horizon Labels bearing the head of the King have appeared, but not Post and Go - although Royal Mail stopped using Post & Go machines at the end of the year, so no replacement was necessary there. The existing stamps continue in use at Post Office self-service kiosks, although there are trials of a new label which does bear the profile of King Charles.

A couple of readers have reminded me that although there is no postal stationery on sale now other than the prepaid plastic Special Delivery bags.  However the Houses of Parliament, and in particular members, are entitled to use prepaid postal stationery which currently still bears the Machin head. Both 1st (provided by RM) and 2nd class (from RW) are in use.

House of Commons prepaid 2nd class envelope used June 2024.

House of Commons prepaid 1st class envelope used May 2024.

Counterfeit Stamps

Thanks to BB for alerting me to more counterfeit non-definitive stamps being sold on eBay.  The current range now includes the Discworld, Cats, Christmas including miniature sheets, Paddington Bear and Children's TV Classics.  OK, they might be genuine, but it's clear from this photograph that there are no phosphor bands whereas there should be two.

2022 1st class 'Cats' stamps which should have two phosphor bands....

Catalogue Numbers

Thanks to CN who has alerted me to changes of numbers of the King Charles booklets in the Stanley Gibbons Concise Catalogue 2024, as follows:

TB2 - 4x 1^st   now    CB1

TC2 - 8x 2^nd   now    CC1

TD2 - 8x 1^st   now   CD1 

TE2 - 4x 2^nd L now   CE1

TF2 - 4x 1^st L  now    CF1 

.............

M24L printings

CN also tells me about the new printing of the booklet of 8 x 2nd class stamps, now with M24L year code.  Here's his picture:

King Charles III 2nd class booklet stamp coded MEIL and M24L, 2024 printing.

JH has provided a good photograph of the whole booklet.

King Charles III 2nd class booklet with stamps coded MEIL and M24L, 2024 printing.

Philatelic Bureau mail

Back in 2014 we reported that Royal Mail was using real stamps (stuck over the PPI) on sendings of bulletins from Tallents House.  Sadly this practice didn't last long.

Set of 2014 Butterfly stamps used on mailings from Royal Mail Tallents House, Edinburgh.

Few philatelic bureaux do use stamps on their sendings (Isle of Man and Greenland do, I think), but Guernsey has made up for not using stamps by advertising them on their envelopes!  My thanks to RM for sending this and other interesting material.

Guernsey Post envelope used in 2024 for sending out stamp orders, illustrated with examples from previous stamp issues.

That's all for now, thanks for reading, and keep sending your news - thanks!

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Royal Mail bows to pressure from the media and MPs on Counterfeit Stamp Surcharges

Following widespread media and political criticism about the handling of counterfeit stamps, I have been told this by a reader, but I have been unable to confirm that things will be changing.

Royal Mail is changing how it handles counterfeit stamps it identifies.

From tomorrow (29^th April) if the item does NOT have a return address it will be delivered with a yellow sticker informing them the stamp is fake and advise them to let the sender know, but it will not be surcharged. 

If there is a return address, it will be sent back and surcharged as now.

Look out for new yellow labels! 

UPDATE 29 April.

The Telegraph has reported that Royal Mail are under more political to change:

(Business and Post Office Minister Kevin) Hollinrake wrote: “You will be aware of concerns being expressed by parliamentary colleagues about the £5 surcharge being applied, where a number of them have claimed that they have bought stamps from legitimate sources, but which have then been identified as counterfeit by your system.

“I recognise that where fake stamps have been used, it is right that the item should be treated as though no postage has been paid, but we urge you to suspend the £5 charge in such circumstances until the wider issue is resolved where there is some uncertainty that requires further investigation, whether for senders’ individual cases or more generally.”

Please report any changes - or discussions with Royal Mail employees - and send any images for publication.  Thank you.

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Surcharges rise on 30 October 2023 - £7 for unpaid maial? Send it back!

Following the postage rate increases on Monday last, another change has been drawn to my attention.

Royal Mail's charges for unpaid and underpaid mail changes on 30 October as shown below. How the charge is worked out when there are a combination of factors is anybody's guess and worth playing with I guess.

In short:
1. No postage or a counterfeit stamp rises from £2.50 to £5.00

2. Underpayment stays at £1.50

3. Use of non-barcoded stamp rises from the moderate £1.10 (which was the 1st class postage rate until Monday) to £2.50.

For small parcels the 'unpaid or counterfeit' charge rises from £3.50 to £7!

New surcharge rates from 30 October for unpaid and non-barcoded post.

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Why produce forgeries of old special (non-definitive) stamps?

It's a question I asked myself when I first heard about these and then saw a couple online.  The stamps in everyday use are the definitives - Machins or King Charles.  These are the ones that people buy normally, and they will be the ones they most often buy (forged) at a discount from online sources.

Most traders will be happy with definitives; Postcrossers and individuals who like attractive, different, stamps may be attracted to something less usual, like the pictorial country definitives.

And those people may like to have the others which have been forged, the Aardman specials, for instance, or these Classic Children's Television, originally issued in 2014.  Thank you to AB for these forgeries.

These are all scanned in pairs with the same settings, and then one of each stamp is copied along side the other to produce matching pairs (I didn't want to split the strips, not least because I borrowed the genuines from Dave Evans of Jerwood Philatelics!)

Can you tell which is which?  Bear in mind that the colour registration of any Royal Mail stamps is not 100% accurate, so text often has a blurry appearance, but sometimes they are very crisp.

Which would you rather put on your letters, knowing that a forged stamp - IF detected - would attract a penalty charge of at least £2.50 on he recipient?

The forgeries are on the right, on slightly thinner paper.  But really, if you bought the ones on the right (bottom strip on the picture below) would you know that they were not genuine stamps?  The quality is superb - and there was no security printing on the backing paper - and although there are differences, which is which?

What you can't see from singles is that the spacing is wrong.  The genuine measure about 196.5 mm perf to perf.  The forgeries measure almost 198 mm.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

This is the shipping label that was on the package of stamps that AB was sent.

Note the endorsement, Shipper only, not seller.   I wonder what this means in practice and in law.  Clearly the shipper is 'sending forged stamps through the post' presumably with the intent that they would be used for postage.

It's much easier to forge self-adhesive stamps than normally gummed and perforated stamps.  

I wonder what other self-adhesive special stamps will be forged.

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Cigarette smuggler found with unusual forged stamps - Manchester Evening News

An interesting story from the Manchester Evening News concerning some forged stamps.  These didn't make it to market, but did any others?

'Breadwinner' with 'good work ethic' caught smuggling 800 sheets of fake stamps into Manchester Airport

Border Force guards have smashed a plot by a computer science student to smuggle more than £40,000 worth of counterfeit postage stamps into Britain.

Officers stopped 42-year-old UK-based father-of-three Ogbehudia Adun at Manchester Airport after he hid almost 800 sheets of fake first and second class stamps under clothing in his luggage. Initially, Adun claimed the stamps were ''invitations'' but he later admitted acquiring the fake items from his native Nigeria to sell on the black market in Britain.

He came back to the UK via Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris and aroused suspicion due to the number of suitcases in his possession. He was also found to be carrying an excessive number of duty free cigarettes. Royal Mail’s security investigators were handed the stamps and later confirmed that they were counterfeits of the £1.75* Marine Turquoise and £2.55 Garnet Red stamps first issued by the Royal Mail in 2020 and 2017 respectively. 

Genuine £2.55 stamp

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“Border Force Officer James Pattison opened the bag where he found four, what appeared to be cardboard packages sealed with tape. The packages were beneath some clothing, but otherwise had not been concealed.

“Officer Pattison opened the packages and found what appeared to him to be counterfeit stamps. The paper appeared to be of poor quality and lacked the perforated edges that are normally seen on genuine Royal Mail stamps."  (My emphasis.)

The contents of the packages included, 577 sheets containing 13,848 £2.55 stamps (24 to a sheet!) and 195 sheets each containing an unspecified number of £1.75* stamps.

----8<----

In mitigation, Patrick Williamson said, “The defendant had limited involvement. It is my understanding that he met someone in Nigeria who asked for a favour from him, that being taking a parcel of stamps through customs.

“He realises now that this was a foolish decision, and when he got to France, he realised the error of his ways. He has expressed remorse to me, especially because of the effect it has had on his family.

''He shares the caring responsibilities with his partner and was the breadwinner of the family.

“He has a good work ethic and has worked consistently since he first came to the country from Nigeria 12 years ago. He has recently started a computer science course at a college in Leeds city centre and he currently brings home around £1400 a month.”

Adun, of Bodmin Road in Leeds, West Yorkshire, admitted possession of articles in use for use in fraud and was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and complete 15 rehabilitation activity days as part of a 12 month community order. He must also pay the court £500 in costs.

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* The numbers don't add up (assuming the turquoise green are in sheets of 24) and there are no pictures of the stamps.   I suspect the error is that these are actually £1.70 stamps.  

I've not heard of a £1.70 forgery, but thought I had seen a reference to the £2.55 being forged, though I can't now find it.  

If these are 'lacking the perforations' then they may be like the England £1.33 that was found a few years ago with no perforations, simply rouletting between the stamps.  

Maybe these were produced for another mailing scam (as were the £1 brown) and that this seizure is the entirety of the production.  Maybe not.  If anybody has any further information please let me know.

 

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Barcoded Machin and other forgeries - but why bother?

I received these forgeries recently.  The person who sent me these singles received them as samples from a 'wholesaler' in Hong Kong (or Mainland China*) of British and French stamps.

I can understand why the crooks would want to forge the 1st and 2nd class stamps, and maybe the Large versions - but the airmail values?  The £1.85 stamp doesn't even have a current postage use, without make-ups.

Which is which? 

£1.85 Barcoded Machin Definitive - and forgery

£2.55 Barcoded Machin Definitive - and forgery

£3.25 Barcoded Machin Definitive - and forgery

£4.20 Barcoded Machin Definitive - and forgery

The forgeries are on the right. What is not visible in these pictures is that all these have source code MBIL at the top right, suggesting that the origin of the iridescent image is business sheets.  

As usual with these forgeries the ROYAL MAIL text over the Queen's profile is in horizontal parallel lines,  but unlike some forgeries, the barcode printing is raised and glossy rather than flat.

Glossy barcode on £3.25 forgery.

ROYAL MAIL iridescent printing in parallel horizontal lines

Glossy barcode on £4.20 forgery.

ROYAL MAIL iridescent printing in parallel horizontal lines

Coming from the same stable is the England barcoded country 1st class definitive.  (I don't have a genuine one for comparison.)

Glossy barcode on 1st class England forgery.

.... and the lower values from the Aardman special issues (also self-adhesive) issued in October 2022.

Forged 1st & 2nd class Aardman commemorative stamps.

An interesting thing about this set is that the same stamps have also been reported on different backing paper.  This version has only one row of small text on the backing paper:

Forged 2nd class Aardman commemorative stamp - different backing paper.

These are the pictures sent to our correspodent by the 'wholesaler' offering him some bargain prices. The writer was an eBay user who had been a member since April 2022 and had - apparently - no dealings at all through ebay, with zero feedback and no products offered for sale.  (* they used an email address ending .hk, but their eBay location translated as 'Mainland China'.)

Whole sheets which would fool many users and some collectors and dealers. 

Another source has sent me these 2nd class 2021 Christmas forgeries.  Again, I don't have genuine for comparison but the backing paper is trademarked on the reverse, and the barcoded piece even has a join!

 

 

Two different 2nd class Christmas 2021 stamps, with the barcoded one having two sheets of paper joined.

Oracal is an international company supplying 'vinyl' for printing. That is, from what I can understand, the sort of easy-fix vinyl used in advertising and customising vehicles, which may be peelable (temporary and repositionable), or permanent (with a 2-3 year guarantee).  This vinyl has backing paper.  The paper shown above stamps appears to be backing paper from that sort of product.  Certainly that's what comes from a search for 'Oracal Print Vinyl permanent'.

I can find nothing in Oracal which suggests that they have a product suitable for stamp printing with an Oracal backing,  The backing paper used for these stamps is much thicker than modern backing paper, even for business sheets.

Update: Closer examination reveals that these Christmas stamps have been restuck onto this backing paper: they are not properly aligned and some have folded corners or creases.

Obviously in time Royal Mail will not be supplying Machin stamps when their supplies are exhausted and replaced by the King Charles III definitives - although we expect that those might also be forged before long.  The forgers are being careful not to offer them before they are widely available from legitimate sources!

Swao-out surpluses

But what about those collectors and dealers who have genuinely acquired barcoded stamps from Royal Mail's swap-out scheme, and now find - as I predicted last year - that they have far more than they use and need to sell them at a discount.  How will the people who have been buying from China be persuaded to buy from us instead !?

Maybe the United States Postal Service (USPS) has the answer? 

Defeating counterfeit postage – In Financial Year 2022, the Postal Service and Postal Inspection Service seized more than 340,000 packages with counterfeit postage and more than 7.7 million counterfeit stamps with an estimated $7.8 million loss avoidance for the Postal Service. Expanded actions to crack down on fraudulent postage include:

* Postal Service interdictions of packages with counterfeit labels affixed. The Postal Service will fully exercise new authority to take possession and dispose of packages identified with counterfeit postage.

* Reviews of shipments on Postal Service docks and during warehouse outreach visits

* Shut down of websites and closure of eCommerce accounts selling counterfeit postage

* Engagement and partnership with eCommerce companies to disrupt activity

* Customs and Border Protection (CBP) collaboration

* Promotion of the Inspection Service’s rewards program which provides rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a person that unlawfully uses, reuses, or forges postage stamps, postage meter stamps, permit imprints, or other postage; or uses, sells, or possesses with the intent to sell any used, forged, or counterfeit postage stamp or other postage.

Throughout the year, the Postal Inspection Service will continue to partner with federal, state, and local authorities to enforce the laws and bring criminals to justice. The Postal Service and Postal Inspection Service will continue to adapt to evolving security threats and implement expanded measures to safeguard Postal employees and preserve the security of the mail that Postal Service customers expect and deserve.

They seem to be making some progress especially with the rewards programme which rewards those who shop the criminals.  But it is clearly not enough.  With echoes of Royal Mail's 'the innocent recipient pays' policy, the USPS recently made this announcement - which was not received well!. (My emphasis.)

In recent years, a surge in the use of counterfeit postage has been found in the mail stream. The intentional use, or sale, of counterfeit postage is a crime because it seeks to obtain services without payment. This activity reflects an intentional effort to defraud the Postal Service of the funds it needs to provide services to the public.

 In response to this problem, the Postal Service is filing a federal register notice about changes to the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®), that will allow the Postal Service to treat items found in the mail stream bearing counterfeit postage as abandoned. “As the most trusted government agency in the nation, we will continue to work together with other law enforcement and government agencies to protect the sanctity of the mail,” said Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale.

The Postal Service’s proposed changes will provide the public notice of the handling of items bearing counterfeit postage. Under the revision articles found in the mails with counterfeit postage will be considered abandoned and may be opened and disposed of at the Postal Service’s discretion. The mission of the Postal Service and the Postal Inspection Service is to ensure the safety, security, and integrity of the U.S. Mail. The implementation of these new regulations will continue to support and enhance this mission.

Consumers purchasing online items may be surprised to find out that the vendor mailed their goods using counterfeit postage. Under the new regulations, such items will be considered abandoned and disposed of at the Postal Service’s discretion. When this occurs, consumers will have to seek recourse from the vendor.

USPS stamps are being forged extensively and advertised as being shipped direct from China. But given Royal Mail's record with identification of forgeries - or misidentifying genuine stamps as forgeries - there is ample evidence that a legal challenge to such a policy here could be successful.

Let's hope it never comes to that, but I do wonder what Royal Mail can do to stop this influx.

UPDATE: I have been provided with this email address for people to send information about new forgeries and new outlets to Royal Mail.

But of course for new forgeries, we would like to have the information and images at the same time!

email address stampsintelligence@royalmail.com  

 

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