# How do they secure stamps against counterfeiting? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 28, 2013, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-secure-stamps-against-counterfeiting/672420 "2013-10-28T08:00:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-secure-stamps-against-counterfeiting/672420/1 "2013-10-28T08:00:15Z")
One thing that occurs to me is that with so many thousand possible stamps, it sounds extremely difficult to build a machine to scan a letter to verify if the stamp is legitimate or not. Not only is there a huge variety of valid stamps, but as near as I can tell, there is not a hidden digital code or some other method that would allow for straightforward and reliable verification. You’d have to scan the image in with a color scanner, and somehow correct for slightly wrinkled and distorted stamp paper, water damage from the user licking it, and so on. The most valuable postage stamps for collectors are those that a printing error caused damage - those are valid, too! The only thing I can think of is that there isn’t any protection against counterfeits. Instead, the secret service must somehow hunt down the sellers of counterfeit stamps. Maybe they somehow make the businesses who sell stamps go through some kind of process to verify they aren’t selling counterfeits. When I used to work in a grocery store, the stamp books were kept in the till as if they were cash. In order for a criminal to make any money, they would have to sell an awful lot of counterfeit stamps, which would require a large organization with a lot of parts for law enforcement to attack. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-secure-stamps-against-counterfeiting/672420/2 "2013-10-28T08:21:09Z")
One technique is fluorescence. The “white” on the stamp actually glows under UV, so they can identify real stamps from fake unless someone’s been really clever. Then, just identify the overweight mail and pass through the others. I have heard many stories in the 40 years since Canada Post began automating, that fake stamps made it through quite often. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-secure-stamps-against-counterfeiting/672420/3 "2013-10-28T09:11:49Z")
[Australia Post says](http://auspost.com.au/education/stamps/students/stamp-printing.html): > [@](#): > > Part of every stamp is invisible to our eyes, and can only be seen by Australia Post’s sorting machines. A special phosphorescent coating that shows up under an ultraviolet light is applied to each stamp. This light is what the sorting machine uses to position the stamp for cancellation (postmarking) when a letter is sorted for delivery. They don’t explicitly say so, but presumably that helps weed out forgeries. Nowadays I suspect the answer is that they don’t really do much to stop it, for the same reason nobody checks for counterfeit coins. They’d be much more interested in large scale fraud, which would not involve stamps. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-secure-stamps-against-counterfeiting/672420/4 "2013-10-28T13:43:30Z")
I wouldn’t think counterfeiting is a particular problem with stamps. You counterfeit money to buy products, and to get genuine money in the change. When you counterfeit stamps, you don’t get anything other than free postage. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-secure-stamps-against-counterfeiting/672420/5 "2013-10-28T13:58:19Z")
I’ve seen Christmas seals and trading stamps make it through unchallenged. Rare to be sure. Reality Chuck has it right. Not worth the trouble. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-secure-stamps-against-counterfeiting/672420/6 "2013-10-28T14:04:07Z")
I sort of recall in the news years ago people washing/removing the canceled mark off of stamps for reuse. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-secure-stamps-against-counterfeiting/672420/7 "2013-10-28T14:23:36Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > I sort of recall in the news years ago people washing/removing the canceled mark off of stamps for reuse. the time value it would take me to do that is more than the cost of a new stamp, I just can’t see that it would be cost effective in very many situations. ---
**Author:** ![Lips\_Obsession](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bbce88/32.png) [@Lips\_Obsession](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lips_Obsession)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-secure-stamps-against-counterfeiting/672420/8 "2013-10-30T16:35:59Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > the time value it would take me to do that is more than the cost of a new stamp, I just can’t see that it would be cost effective in very many situations. How about “re-using” stamps that were not cancelled when originally used? I can imagine that would be considered unethical, but would that be illegal? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-secure-stamps-against-counterfeiting/672420/9 "2013-10-30T16:50:01Z")
> [@Lips\_Obsession](#): > > How about “re-using” stamps that were not cancelled when originally used? I can imagine that would be considered unethical, but would that be illegal? I believe it is illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-secure-stamps-against-counterfeiting/672420/10 "2013-10-30T17:43:31Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I wouldn’t think counterfeiting is a particular problem with stamps. You counterfeit money to buy products, and to get genuine money in the change. When you counterfeit stamps, you don’t get anything other than free postage. Actually there have been quite a lot of forgeries of British stamps discovered, with the quality varying from pretty terrible to extremely good. Because stamps are widely sold in supermarkets, newsagents etc, the forgers can sell books of fake stamps in bulk to such retailers. The retailers pay less for the fakes than they would for the real stamps\*, so everyone makes money out of the deal. Until they get caught… - The retailers might not know that the stamps are fake - they might be spun some story about returned or surplus stock going cheap. Edit: see for example [this blog post](http://machinmania.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/question-i-am-still-asking-myself-is.html). > [@](#): > > John Dove, prosecuting, said “the West Midlands had been flooded with a vast quantity of fake stamps imported from China and normally distributed in booklets of 12 to newsagents and corner shops”. > He said investigators acting on an anonymous tip-off found that a Yardley shopkeeper had 243 bogus stamps who said he had bought a batch for £400 and named Raza as his regular supplier. When Raza’s home was searched police found bundles of fake stamps and a receipt book revealed he had sold more than 9,000 with a value of £2,736. The defendant admitted obtaining stamps from a cousin’s shop in Erdington and selling them to other shops. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-secure-stamps-against-counterfeiting/672420/11 "2013-10-30T17:47:16Z")
What about the ones we can get now that are printed by the self service kiosk at the post office? [https://www.usps.com/shop/use-self-service-kiosks.htm](https://www.usps.com/shop/use-self-service-kiosks.htm) They are a black on white sticky label with a QR code and a pink stripe on one side. They look more like metered postage. ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-secure-stamps-against-counterfeiting/672420/12 "2013-10-30T18:37:12Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > What about the ones we can get now that are printed by the self service kiosk at the post office? > > [USPS - Redirect to the United States Postal Service (U.S. Postal Service)](https://www.usps.com/shop/use-self-service-kiosks.htm) > > They are a black on white sticky label with a QR code and a pink stripe on one side. They look more like metered postage. That kind is obviously secure. The QR code contains a transaction ID or some other unique number that can only be used once. Assuming a semi-competent implementation, this method is secure. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-secure-stamps-against-counterfeiting/672420/13 "2013-10-31T19:39:18Z")
I think the post ofice used to rely on the delivery mailman as the final stop-gap against this sort of counterfeit. They would keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Also- consider that postage meters pre-date powerful computers by several decades, yet they appear to have no serious detection measures built in. The meter number may be visible, but it was not easily machine-readable, and the design was simple enough I imagine a decent print shop could fake it… but it brings us back to the problem of “why?” There’s not a lot of money in faking stamps, unless you sell them retail - then the more you sell the greater the risk of being caught. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-secure-stamps-against-counterfeiting/672420/14 "2013-10-31T21:28:55Z")
at the beginning of postage stamps in the 1840s the designers went to considerable trouble to make the forger’s life as difficult as possible. Nowadays one would wonder why anybody would go to the trouble.