Sports memorabilia fraud
Sports memorabilia fraud involves the sale of items falsely represented as having been autographed or used by sports celebrities. This type of fraud has gained significance alongside the growing interest in sports collectibles, driven by economic factors and the rise of online sales since the 1990s. As the memorabilia market expanded, the prevalence of forged autographs and fake game-used items increased, prompting law enforcement to enhance their efforts to tackle this issue. In the U.S., California was the first state to enact a law requiring dealers to provide certificates of authenticity for autographed items. However, forgers adapted quickly, undermining the effectiveness of such measures. The FBI has launched investigations, including Operation Bullpen, which uncovered extensive networks of forgery in multiple states. Despite ongoing efforts to combat fraud, estimates suggest that a substantial percentage of sports memorabilia, particularly items sold online, are still counterfeit. To protect themselves, consumers are advised to purchase from reputable dealers, request authentication, and be wary of items priced suspiciously low.
Subject Terms
Sports memorabilia fraud
DEFINITION: Sale of sports memorabilia falsely claimed to have been autographed or used by a sports celebrity.
SIGNIFICANCE: Forgers and other scam artists have taken advantage of the high interest in sports memorabilia among the American public to make a great deal of money selling fraudulent autographs and supposedly game-used sports equipment. Law-enforcement agencies have increased their efforts to address this form of fraud.
Heightened interest in professional sports, a good economic climate in which many people had disposable income, and the explosion of online marketing came together in the 1990s to create an expanded interest in sports collectibles in the United States. With rising interest and prices, forgeries of sports figures’ autographs became increasingly common. According to the research and consulting group Market Decipher, the sports memorabilia market generated more than $33 billion in 2022, with the market expected to generate $227.2 billion by 2032. Reputable auction houses such as Christy’s and Sotheby’s, along with many online companies, began holding sales of sports collectibles. Prices soared for memorabilia such as trading cards, autographed pictures, programs, helmets, jerseys, balls, pucks, and other paraphernalia that had been used in competition (referred to by collectors as “game-used” items). As interest and prices increased, forgeries and fraudulent memorabilia flooded the sports collectibles marketplace. The problem expanded from the United States to involve forgers and suppliers in Europe and Asia as well.
Sports Souvenir Forgery and the Law
Forgery has always been illegal, and many law-enforcement agencies maintain divisions to investigate art and document forgery. For several reasons, however, the forging of autographs on sports memorabilia presented new problems for law enforcement. First, most current sports figures do sign autographs, so hundreds of legitimate autographs of a single celebrity may be in existence. This makes it difficult or impossible to prove a direct link between any particular autograph and the sports figure. Second, compared with art, autographs are relatively easy to forge, and, unlike signatures on legal documents, the autographs of sports figures initially did not require authentication, such as witnesses or notarizing. Third, many sports souvenirs are sold through the Internet, which eliminates the opportunity for buyers to examine the goods in person or seek second opinions before they buy and geographically separates buyer and seller, making prosecution for forgery difficult. Finally, many sports forgeries sell for little enough money that duped buyers, should they discover they have been swindled, are unlikely to report it to the police.
California was the first U.S. state to pass a law specifically aimed at curbing sports souvenir fraud. The Autographed Sports Memorabilia of 1992 required dealers selling sports figures’ autographs to provide certificates of authenticity (COAs) to buyers. Using this law, a group of buyers who had bought forged autographs online sued the Internet auction company eBay, which is based in California, for not providing COAs. They lost their suit when the court decided that eBay is a marketplace, not a dealer, and is therefore exempt from the law. Before long, in any case, COAs lost much of their value, as forgers soon learned that with a little practice and good computers they could easily manufacture false COAs.
In 1997, the FBI began an investigation of sports autograph forgery in San Diego, California, called Operation Foul Ball. This effort broke up five southern California forgery rings and resulted in the of twenty-six individuals. The FBI next initiated a national investigation called Operation Bullpen, which set up a false import-export company in order to infiltrate wholesale providers of fraudulent sports memorabilia. By 2001, raids in twelve US states broke up thirteen memorabilia forgery rings and two sports card forgery rings. Thirty-six individuals were eventually convicted. Despite the involvement of the FBI, however, sports souvenir forgery continued to be a major international problem into the 2020s.
Protecting Against Fraud
In response to Operation Bullpen, Major League Baseball (MLB) became the first sports league to take concerted action to prevent memorabilia fraud. MLB created its own program, which requires the presence of an independent to an autograph by any MLB player; at the time an autograph is witnessed, a numbered hologram is placed on the item so that its ownership can be tracked in a database. A number of reputable sports memorabilia companies began using similar procedures; some also videotape sports stars throughout their autograph-signing sessions.
In the late 2010s and early 2020s, sports stars and reputable memorabilia dealers began using blockchain technology to allow memorabilia to be sold and traded as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). A blockchain is a centralized data storage unit that cannot be altered once it is recorded. Information on a blockchain can be publicly accessed and verified to ensure the authenticity of items.
Despite these measures, forgery remained rampant. Following Operation Bullpen, the FBI reported finding warehouses full of fraudulent sports memorabilia. The agency estimated that at least half the autographed sports and celebrity items sold were fakes, and that the proportion increased to 75 to 80 percent for items sold on eBay. In the early 2000s, the sports figures most popular with forgers were boxing legend Muhammad Ali and baseball player Mark McGwire. By the 2020s, players popular with forgers were baseball legends Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle and NFL star quarterback Tom Brady. Some memorabilia dealers estimated that 80 percent of vintage sports signatures were forgeries.
To decrease their chances of buying fraudulent items, consumers should buy from reputable dealers or auction houses and should ask for proof of authenticity or evidence that provides a solid link between the sports figure and the autographed item. Consumers should also educate themselves about the history of pens and balls, as these items change over time. For example, if an autograph of an old-time ballplayer is signed with a Sharpie pen, it is a forgery, because Sharpies are relatively new writing instruments. Consumers should also consider the prices being asked for the items they are seeking—if the price of an item is too good to be true, the item is probably a fake. In addition, consumers should avoid collecting the autographs of stars who are having exceptional seasons or who have died unexpectedly, as the incidence of forgeries is highest with the best-known and most newsworthy individuals. Finally, consumers who that any sports memorabilia being offered for sale is fraudulent should report the matter to the police.
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