I know there have been some good discussion on forgeries and such, as it pertains to certain signed Buk/Fante items, but I'm curious if there is any actual legal recourse for people posting legitimately fraudulent items.
I'd think it falls under the category of 'mail fraud', which carries a penalty of up to $1m and/or 30 yrs. Pretty intense for a forged book.
I bring this up because recently someone posted a signed first of 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy on eBay. This would be a miraculous feat, as McCarthy talked about signed copies in an interview in 2009:
WSJ: Why don't you sign copies of "The Road"
CM: There are signed copies of the book, but they all belong to my son John, so when he turns 18 he can sell them and go to Las Vegas or whatever. No, those are the only signed copies of the book.
WSJ: How many did you have?
CM: 250. So occasionally I get letters from book dealers or whoever that say, "I have a signed copy of the 'The Road,'" and I say, "No. You don't."
I sent the seller an email saying there's no way this is a signed copy, and that either he got ripped off, which is a drag, or he's a forger and that either way he should pull the listing.
Amazingly,
I responded explaining that while he may be a good guy NOW, the second you knowingly pass off a forgery, you're as culpable and evil as the fucker who took pen to title page fraudulently.
Needless to say, I haven't heard anything, and now the bidding is up over $100 so he's obviously not pulling it.
Any thoughts/suggestions on this one? One thought was post a second listing warning people off, but I'd rather have eBay DO something about this. Anyway -- thanks team.