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2012 was the quietest year so far since 2000 as far as cult wine fakes were concerned. Unfortunately, 2013 began quite differently. At several venues, attempts are being made to defraud customers and traders with worthless bottles or bogus transfers. Empty bottles for three-digit euro amounts are also regularly auctioned off at internet auctions. Spectacular is a case that has caused a furore in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and other EU countries since the beginning of this year. A wine merchant and broker posing as "Dr. Ferdinand von Rohr" was arrested in Vienna while handing over cult wines worth about 50,000 euros. An apparently large-scale counterfeiting ring is active here. For with the arrest of "Dr. Ferdinand von Rohr" (whose civil name is Michael S.) apparently only the tip of an iceberg was arrested. The special commissions of the state criminal investigation offices (LKAs) in Munich, Cologne and Vienna are investigating.

Not only counterfeit wines have been sold on a large scale for years. Again and again, various gangs in England - mainly from London - try to defraud dealers and collectors with fake bank transfers. Recently, after several phone calls and e-mails, I was also "happily" faxed the confirmation of a bank transfer with the request to send the ordered wines as soon as possible. After all, for around 55,530 euros or 46,920 English pounds! How many gullible dealers and collectors actually send wines ordered in this way remains the great unknown. But one after the other.

Case 1 - Pétrus, Lafite, Le Pin & Co.

Counterfeit bottles, capsules, labels and OHKs?

Sensational is the news of an arrested German citizen, who is currently In Focus under investigation by police and public prosecutors - pardon: sitting. Ferdinand von Rohr alias Michael S., who appeared under various pseudonyms, hawked expensive wines on a large scale. The sold and confiscated bottles, however, are pretty sure to be only a fraction of the perfect fakes that have not been discovered yet. As it is, even the original wooden boxes (OHKs) with the branding are fake. So are the labels, the cork and the capsule. And they are so perfect that a closer inspection does not immediately reveal the fake.

In many cases, only a sensory examination reveals% whether a wine is fake. (Source: Wein-Plus)

Are the bottles real? That would be something! So it takes an expert who has drunk real bottles of these wines several times and thus "has to" taste a bottle of these supposed fakes. No, no, unfortunately I don't belong to these experts and am only an epicure of fine wines and not an analyst. But with these fakes, you don't need an academic education to immediately taste a cheap red wine in the bottles. But you just had to open and taste a bottle of Le Pin 1990 or Lafite Rothschild 1982. The fake is immediately unmasked, and instead of a case at the market value of about 42,000 euros for Le Pin 1990 (source: Liv-ex), you have worthless bottles and a wine you don't even want to drink yourself.

Several traders in the EU have bought Lafite, Le Pin, Latour and other supposedly genuine noble spirits, but were informed about the fakes immediately after the arrest of the suspected fraudster. Of course, the merchants are no longer allowed to sell the bottles, and whether compensation will be paid at some point is questionable. Whether bottles from these crates were resold here or there will be clarified by lengthy investigations. And the extent of these fakes will also surprise many wine lovers. LKAs and public prosecutors' offices are investigating.

Case 2 - Data theft

Falsified papers, data abuse, amateurish confirmations

Again and again one reads about gangs that cause millions in damage worldwide through so-called advance fee fraud. While until some time ago it was only cash that interested the fraudsters, for some time now it has also been goods. Expensive watches, jewellery, electrical appliances and even fine wines are now increasingly the objects with which they want to rip off. This is also the case for some wine merchants, including myself.

Fraudsters are targeting expensive% high quality wines like Bordeaux. (Source: WineCollect.eu)

From a prepaid mobile phone number (i.e. with a prepaid SIM card) in the UK (+44 74 10808535) I received a call in very "bumpy" English: "Hello! I found your wonderful wines on the Internet and would like to buy all Pétrus, Lafite, Latour and other good wines for upgrading stock. We are big company in London and my manager told me to place order." Well, since for years I have been asked to supply all sorts of politicians, footballers and other celebrities with high-quality wines in this way for banquets and celebrations in England, all of course with the sounding name of a freemail address and against advance payment (!), I knew what to make of this call too. Namely: attempted fraud! Nevertheless, I was interested in this new impertinence from a journalistic point of view. A lively e-mail exchange and a wine order from the fraudsters followed.
This order was also sent to two other wine merchants known to me. Probably also to countless others who have a shop on the internet.

The order, sent from the e-mail address export1234ltd@gmx.co.uk (original text of the fake mail; company name changed to "1234" for legal reasons):

Dear Mr Feldner,

We are company based in Unit Kingdom and would like to build a business relationship.
With your company we find your company details from Uk office insurance our export member
Could you please send our company details to www.eulerhermes.de for the credit cheque insurance
Euler Hermes is our protection our guarantee our credit management in over 50 Countries.
Could you please send us your best export unit prices for our order confimation asap.

Wine order:
Petrus 2005 Quantity available
Petrus 2005 - 150cl
Petrus 2008 - 300cl
Chat: Lafite Rothschild 2000
Chat: Lafite Rothschild 300cl -2008
Chat: Lafite Rothschild 2010
La Tache 1991 / DRC
La Tache 2009 / RC WB
Romanee Conti 2007 DRC
Romanee Conti 2008 DRC
Latour 2000

All available stock including export unit price for our order confirmation asap.
We are looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards,

Export Manager
N.D.

1234 Ltd.
Buckingham Court
London Road
High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP11 1JU
United Kingdom
Tel:+44 7769092444
Fax:+44 7092983885
Registration no: 03834103
VAT number: GB 306 5573 62
email:export1234ltd@gmx.co.uk
http://www.1234.co.uk

(The VAT number provided has been found to be invalid).

Vineyard and chateau in Margaux% Bordeaux (Source: Wein-Plus)

To make sure that my hunch was not wrong in this case either, I did some research and found out that this company and the export manager who signed all the emails to me actually existed. I called the London company 1234 Ltd (name changed) and after several conversations was informed that no order had been issued to me by the export manager in question. From then on I was in constant contact with Anne N., Fraud Analyst, Asset Protection & Investigations Department of 1234 Ltd. As this large and well-known company is itself repeatedly confronted with attempted frauds, they have set up a separate department to investigate and prevent counterfeiting and fraud.

However, I remained in constant contact with the fraudsters, who allegedly needed the wines so urgently that I was called several times and contacted by e-mail that the transfer would be settled immediately after the invoice was issued and that I would receive a fax of the payment confirmation (see below). All emails from the scammers were sent from a public internet access (hotspot). All e-mail addresses used export1234ltd@gmx.co.uk, nd@gmx.co.uk (both alienated here) and barclybkplc@accountant.com are related to manipulations according to 419scam.org, a portal for telephone numbers and e-mail addresses with fraudulent intentions. Four days after the order was placed and I was invoiced, I received a confirmation from the London bank, which was so simply forged that it is immediately recognisable even to laymen. In addition to the confirmation, I received an e-mail in advance stating that the money had been transferred.

Bank confirmation from the fraudsters by e-mail with a conspicuous number of errors; sent by ACCOUNT DPT BCLYSbank plcc <barclybkplc@accountant.com>:</barclybkplc@accountant.com>

Dear Sir/Madam,

Could you please find in attachment the copy of irrevocable guarantee internationl bank transfer. We barclays bank guarantee the payment of € 55.530,00 only. holder of WineCollect Werner Feldner. Bank: bank Salzband: Acount no: 403xxx Sort code: 3xxxx

We hereby agree with the holder of IBAN:AT.......... that the payment drawn under and in compliance with the terms of the transfer will be honoured on the 22 March 2013.

Yours Sincerely,

ACCOUNT MANAGER
ANDREW YOUNG
BARCLAYS

The well-known Barclays Bank exists, but the account manager of Barclays, Andrew Young, does not. Even the stationery used is so amateurishly forged that one wonders how the fraudsters can have any success at all with it anywhere. On each page, the bank's logo is off by a few millimetres, and no account manager of a London bank would keep his job with so many spelling mistakes. Probably not get one at all.

First page of the fake bank confirmation (source: WineCollect.eu)

Second page of the fake bank confirmation (Source: WineCollect.eu)

Third page of the fake bank confirmation (Source: WineCollect.eu)

The Metropolitan Police in London is dealing with dozens of similar cases, but is powerless, because the fraudsters usually have the goods sent to addresses of abandoned companies under false and constantly changing names. Different people are waiting there on the day of delivery, who immediately transfer the goods from the supplier using fake IDs. Even at real office addresses, the fraudsters know no scruples, wait in front of the building and use statements like: "The boss sent me to take over, but you should please call him." Using the pre-paid mobile number provided, of course.

This is how thousands of bottles of wine and other goods disappear into dark channels in Europe every year. In my case, too, the fraud department advised me to refrain from filing a complaint against unknown persons. Firstly, I was not harmed by my caution, and secondly, all the people who attempted this fraud had already changed names, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers etc. before I would even have written the first line of a complaint. What remains unknown is the number of bona fide sellers who send the goods but unfortunately never receive their money. Those affected can contact info@weinbetrug.org (discretion guaranteed).

If you now feel like a good drop, enjoy it, because the likelihood of you opening a fake is really vanishingly small, indeed almost impossible. Reputable dealers know their sources and customers and do not buy or sell fakes. However, I can't guarantee that with various private internet sales. How wonderful a good glass of German Riesling or a red wine from Burgenland is for a small amount of money. Counterfeiting excluded!

Case 3 - Empty bottles and OHKs

Not a topic for criminologists, but still worth mentioning in this context

At the internet auction house Ebay, empty bottles and wooden boxes of the most expensive wines are auctioned off. Why would someone bid 311.99 euros for an empty wooden crate of Pétrus 1989? Or 341.00 euros for Pétrus 1982 and 368.87 euros for Pétrus 1990 (see picture below)? Only for the wood! Sold like this on Ebay France on 3 April and 15 and 21 May 2013 respectively. Not only wooden crates but also empty bottles of these cult wines are fetching prices that cause unease, even anger, among connoisseurs and wine enthusiasts. The assumption is that the empty original wooden crates are filled with individual bottles that have been brought together in order to achieve prices that are up to 20 percent higher.

What is supposed to happen to empty bottles for 200 to 300 euros, I leave to the imagination of the readers. The producers have been working for years on various ways to make their wines forgery-proof. However, this only concerns the newer vintages. Unfortunately! Reason enough to enjoy wines that, firstly, are not worth counterfeiting and, secondly, might even taste better.

Ebay auction: empty Pétrus 1990 OHK sold at 368%87 euros (source: WineCollect.eu)

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