Chinese counterfeiters are not content with the Canadian currency counterfeit. False stamps reproducing almost perfection for the most recent marketing series by Canada Post are sold for a fraction of the price on different Chinese sites.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
“I think that 99.99 % of people are not able to make the difference between these stamps and the authentic, even the Canada posts,” believes Richard Gratton, expert in counterfeit stamps and vice-president of the International Association of Experts in Philately.
Photo Tristan Péloquin, the press
The expert in counterfeit stamps Richard Gratton, vice-president of the International Association of Experts in Philately
“Post Canada has the attitude of the ostrich. They are robbed several, several million per year by these Chinese counterfeiters, ”he says. The State Corporation declared losses of 748 million for the financial year of 2023, but does not provide any details on the losses linked to counterfeiting.
The press bought a roulette of 50 counterfeit stamps from the “Terre de our ancestors” on a site established in China, whose authentic were launched a year ago by the state -owned company. Sellers do not hide on the origin of the goods: the follow -up number provided clearly indicates that the package started from China, including the installations of the Chinese company Yanwen. The counterfeit stamps were delivered by plane in a week, for about half of the price of the authentic.
15 cents the stamp
“If we buy a certain volume, the Chinese sells us about 10 % of the facial value. That means that a stamp at $ 1.24, they sell it about 15 cents, “said Gratton.
The philatelist also showed to The press counterfeit stamps copying another even more recent series, launched by Canada Post last January. According to him, it is the fourth wave of Canadian stamps counterfeit by Chinese counterfeiters since 2021.
“Each time, they improve,” he says. These new counterfeit stamps are notably equipped with a “marking band” which reflects in fluorescent yellow under an ultraviolet light, a safety measure until very recently impossible to imitate.
Photo Tristan Péloquin, the press
New counterfeit stamps in China are now provided with a “marking band” which reflects in fluorescent yellow under an ultraviolet light.
To the eye, we see no difference with the authentic.
“You have to enlarge the stamp by a 100 factor to start seeing the difference,” explains Mr. Gratton. We can then see small points in the counterfeit figures, an indication that the stamp was made with a printer offsetwhile Post Canada rather uses photolithography, a more sophisticated printing method.
The false of the real
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Image provided by Richard Gratton
A counterfeit stamp of a series launched by Canada Post in January 2025. We can see in the letters of the word “Canada” and in the “1.44” figure of tiny points – a index that speaks.
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Image provided by Richard Gratton
The authentic stamp launched by Canada Post in January 2025
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A market of 300 million
The press revealed in early April that a wave of $ 100 tickets from China strikes Quebec, Ontario and the Atlantic provinces. But the stamp market, although declining, remains attractive for counterfeiters. Canada Posts sells $ 300 million in stamps per year, according to the most recent annual report of the Crown Company.
Canada Post stresses being the only online trade authorized to sell Canadian stamps on the Internet.
Photo Tristan Péloquin, the press
The press bought a roulette of 50 counterfeit stamps from the series “Terre de our ancestors” on a site in China.
“We know that counterfeit stamps circulate from time to time in the postal system. Post Canada does everything possible to collaborate with law enforcement organizations in order to end the counterfeit, “said the Crown Company in an email sent to The press.
We ask anyone with information suggesting that there may be counterfeit stamps in circulation to communicate with the police.
Canada posts, by email
Eric Li, professor in the Management Department of the University of British Columbia (UBC) who became interested in the phenomenon of the counterfeiting of luxury products in China and Hong Kong, believes that Chinese counterfeiters run very little risk of undergoing a prosecution of the Canadian government, and even less the stigma of the Chinese government.
Post Canada should, according to him, question the relevance of still using stamps in 2025, a “mechanism that is almost 200 years old”, while Fedex, Ups and Amazon use a much more difficult barcode system to divert. “These companies have implemented formidable parcel monitoring mechanisms, which appeal to consumers and which explain a large part of their success,” said Li.
Photo Tristan Péloquin, the press
The expert in counterfeit stamps Richard Gratton, vice-president of the International Association of Experts in Philately
Richard Gratton fears that the replacement of stamps with an online postage mechanism is in Canada Post Cardboard.
“It saddens me,” admits the stamp collector. “In the United States, the US Postal Service publishes videos to educate Americans about the challenge of counterfeiting stamps,” he said. A new law also allows him to grasp and open the letters freed with counterfeit American stamps. “But here, Canada Posts don’t talk about it. It is as if it did not exist, ”deplores Mr. Gratton.
