Beware of traced autograph fakes!

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“Frank Borman” photo with a traced signature

“Frank Borman” photo with a traced signature

I’ve been seeing a lot of these lately — traced autographs.

In this case, the scammer makes a high resolution inkjet copy on photo paper of an authentic signed photo. Then, they trace over the printed autograph with a marker to make it look like an original signed photo. This example also had an inkjet copy of the original COA from a well-known dealer.

Remember, there are people always thinking of dishonest, yet creative, ways to part you with your hard-earned money.

Be wary of traced over signatures

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There are many tricks in the forger's handbook, and a traced over signature is one of them. 

Here is how it works. 

  1. The forger gets a high resolution digital image of an authentically signed photo.
  2. Make a photo print of the authentically signed photo.
  3. Then, trace over the printed signature on the photo with a marker to give it the appearance of real ink of the photo.

This practice can be deceptive, but often you can see signs of hesitation or slowness as the forger is careful to cover the printed signature. In some cases, you can still see traces of the printed signature peeking out where the forger failed to completely cover the printed signature.

Here is an example of a print of an authentically signed photo that appears to have been traced over with Sharpie. The arrows point to areas where the forger did not completely cover the printed signature.

Arrows indicate areas where you can see hints of a printed signature below the traced signature that was added.

Arrows indicate areas where you can see hints of a printed signature below the traced signature that was added.