Here is what the legal, government and enforcement communities – as well as eBay – are doing to stem the tide of art fraud and give counterfeiters the boot.

Art fraud is big business – the world's fourth largest illegal market. And eBay, the most popular online marketplace today, as well as other online auction sites have become the frontlines in the battle against counterfeit art. Though they provide both sellers and buyers with an ideal platform to effectively purchase and/or sell art from the comfort of his or her own home, due to the massive amount of transactions, they have also provided art fraudsters with a very lucrative marketplace where fakes can fall through the cracks.

Although there's a long way to go to resolve the problem that costs art aficionados millions of dollars every year, steps have been taken by the legal, trade, and enforcement sectors, as well as online auction sites themselves, to help alleviate the situation.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has an Art Crime Team, composed of twelve Special Agents, each responsible for addressing art and cultural property crime cases in an assigned geographic region. The Art Crime Team, located at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., receives specialized training in art-related investigations, including art fraud cases, worldwide in cooperation with foreign law enforcement officials and FBI Legal Attaché offices. Recent investigations that concluded in arrests include that of Kristine Eubanks and Gerald Sullivan who pled guilty to selling fake artwork and rigging auctions in scam that cost at least $20 million and Angela Hamblin who was arrested in connection with a fraudulent scheme to sell fake works of art on eBay and in private transactions.

Other global enforcement agencies, including Interpol and Scotland Yard, have also initiated programs to combat intellectual property crimes in the arts. Scotland Yard's renowned Arts and Antiquities Unit, formed in 1969 to pursue and prosecute criminals who operate in the second biggest art market in the world, has been responsible for cracking some of the most spectacular art crimes across the world. The recently helped solve the "Bolton Forgers" case, in which George, Olivia and Shaun Greenhalgh were arrested for perpetuating a £10 million fake art scam.

The US Federal Trade Commission has issued guidelines to help consumers recognize fraudulent art and protect themselves from being victimized, including:

·         Get professional advice from a reputable expert, such as an art appraiser or museum curator, before finalizing the purchase of any artwork attributed to a well-known artist.

·         Tell the dealer you want the sale to be conditioned on an appraisal of the piece by an expert of your choice.

·         Be extremely careful about buying art work over the telephone, where you can't gauge the value and authenticity of a work of art or the credentials of an art firm.

·         Check with your local or state consumer protection agencies, the Better Business Bureau, or your state Attorney General to determine whether complaints have been lodged against the seller.

·         Be skeptical of authenticity claims and be wary of any art dealer who refuses to put his authenticity claims in writing.

·         Be suspicious of promises of great investment returns and high-pressure sales tactics.

·         Do not give out your credit card number over the phone or by mail even if they say they need your card number for "verification purposes" and not for payment.

If you do buy a work of art and discover that it is a fake and can't resolve your dispute with the company that sold you the piece, the FTC advises you to contact your local consumer protection agency, Better Business Bureau, or state Attorney General to report the company, or the National Fraud Information Center which will forward your complaint to the FederalTrade Commission.

Legal experts in the US say that federal and state antifraud laws may penalize art forgers, but the penalties are too minor compared to the potential profits to be gained by creating and selling counterfeits. Additionally, a conviction would require proof of criminal intent – easy to prove in the case of the forger but more difficult to establish in the case of the (probably ignorant or just suspicious) seller. So what can buyers of counterfeit art do to recover their losses? Some states have enacted legislation that allow purchasers to recoup their expenses from the immediate or even prior (for breach of warranty) sellers. They may also be able to be recompensed by taking tort action, using misrepresentation to rescind a contract or be paid monetary damages.

Most importantly, in the online arena, sites like eBay have started to proactively combat the sale of fake and/or stolen art and antiquities and regularly cooperate with law enforcement. For example, artists can join eBay's VeRO (verified rights owners) program and they can then report violations of their property rights. This is important because eBay ignores reports of violations by anyone other than the property rights owner, and does not allow its users to warn buyers of scams.

Additionally, eBay has rolled out a major new initiative to fight fraud and will begin scrutinizing all sellers who list items that are particularly susceptible to counterfeiting. The program involves four safeguards that sellers need to adopt: 1) Sellers of items that appear on eBay's anti-counterfeiting list must become PayPal verified; 2) eBay will conduct manual "seller reviews" for sellers who list items on its anti-counterfeiting list to determine if sellers will be permitted to sell such items; 3) eBay will ban 1-day and 3-day auctions of all items on its anti-counterfeiting list to give eBay members and rights-holders enough time to review items; 4) eBay will restrict cross-border trade on items on its anti-counterfeiting list.

The business of art fraud is growing bigger and bigger. If we hope to even stem the tide, art dealers and auctioneers have to proactively police their merchandise, law enforcement has to enhance its tactics, and consumers themselves have to be ever vigilant.