Special Report:

Con Men and Fake Art

Lying, stealing, forging, illegal coping and illegal investment schemes.

Welcome to the real world of art collecting and investment. How much art is stolen, forged or illegally copied? Who knows? In fact, to the people who are victims, who cares how many other people were defrauded? When you have been defrauded, there is only one important number, and that is number one: You.

 Contrary to the movies and television detective shows, it is not the World Cat Burglar. When professional thieves such as that steal, it is on assignment. But that is not how the average art buyer (collector or investor) is defrauded.

 All too often the criminal is a person well versed in art, in fact, sells art at his own gallery. The seller gains the confidence of the victim, and sells him the fake or, with a twist, sells real art at an expensive price. This is why they are called con artists.”

 Remember, the con in con man stands for confidence. This means the victim is often face-to-face with the criminal, trusts the criminal, and buys. Con men are very likeable people. They exude an air of trustworthiness. If they were to act differently, they would not be successful. They know well their craft of deceit.

 Thomas Hoving says he looked at about 50000 works of “art” during his 16 years at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. He said: “The fact is that there are so many phonies and doctored pieces around these days that at times, I almost believe that there are as many bogus works as genuine ones. We call this “the gallery problem.”

 Now, to add to the gallery problem, there is the Internet. Con artists are using the internet to take advantage of art lovers by selling their wares online.

 Fortunately, there are telltale signs of fraud, any kind of fraud. These are the lepers bells that tell you that you are about to become a victim. If the seller/dealer/curator talks of quick profits, claims to have inside information that what he is trying to sell you will go up in value, and tries to pressure you to invest before you have an opportunity to investigate, you are probably talking with a con man.

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