Two Englishmen, for sale online counterfeit prints of the artist Banksy (Banksy), were punished. The court sentenced them to 12 months probation and 240 hours of community service, and forbade them to engage in online commerce in the next five years.

As you know, Banksy, famous for his witty works of street art does not want to disclose his identity. Perhaps that is why scammers found it an easy target - is to be anonymous to sue, because then everyone will know who he really is! But, as we see, all were "open little face».

Criminals, 45-year-old Lee Parker (Lee Parker) and 44-year-old Grant Chempkins-Howard (Grant Champkins-Howard ) - According to the prosecutor, "are big fans of Banksy," - prints sold through eBay. At the cheat their "inspired" soaring prices for works of the artist. Howard and Parker have brought a lot of accounts on eBay and PayPal, as well as a large number of email addresses, allowing them to deceive Banksy fans for a long time. They represented the buyers of fake documents on the provenance of works, including receipts, bank statements and e-mails allegedly received from the company's Pictures on Walls, is publishing and selling Banksy prints. If the buyer began to suspect that the acquisition of work are counterfeit, counterfeiters simply return the money to him. By the way, to find customers, they have been using the online forums.

fraudsters have seized more than 120 fakes. Half were found in their homes, others - have defrauded customers. If these prints were true, then their total value would exceed 200 thousand dollars. Detective Ian Lawson (Ian Lawson) believes that this fraud has had a negative impact on the market Banksy: the emergence of a large number of fakes entails a reduction in consumer confidence and, consequently, lower prices.

material prepared Yulia Maksimova, AI

Sources: theartnewspaper.com , artinvestment.ru