Art fraud is often estimated at $4–$6 billion annually, but we believe that’s a conservative figure. In one case alone, I uncovered a single dealer moving $2 billion in fakes. These fraudsters often go undetected for decades, leaving lasting damage to artists’ legacies.

Art fraud has been around for centuries. Today, the techniques may have evolved, but the exploitation remains the same. Most people associate art fraud with master painters and high-value fakes—romanticized forgers who outsmart experts and recreate museum-quality works. These skilled parasites still exist, often targeting deceased artists whose families can’t defend their legacies.

But in the past five years, there’s been a surge in fraud targeting living artists. The velocity of fakes is increasing each year risking severe damage to reputation and legacy. If collector confidence is shaken, it will impact sales for living artists. In my last undercover operation, I encountered thousands of forgeries—most of them imitating living artists.

The reason is simple: fraud follows demand.

In the 2019 Vice News interview of Ken Perenyi —a skilled forger who sold fakes for over 30 years—the journalist noted a rise in forgeries of Black American artists. Perenyi’s response captures the current landscape perfectly:

“Newly appreciating artists are particular targets especially if they are being introduced into the sales rooms (auction houses). When you buy something in an auction house, it has now graduated to an entirely new level of investment quality. So when you get in on the ground floor of something that is rapidly appreciating, there isn’t that much expertise there, that’s a prime target. That’s got a bullseye on it. Let’s just go and exploit that.”

In his foreword to The 2024 Contemporary Art Market Report, Thierry Ehrmann, CEO and founder of Artprice by Artmarket.com, describes a rapidly evolving market. The art world is becoming more inclusive and less inhibited in how it acquires works. Sales channels have made it easier than ever to buy and sell art—particularly prints and multiples. This new infrastructure responds to the growing demand for smaller, more mobile works. As a result, the holding period for art is often measured in months rather than years or decades. Even ultra-contemporary artists are now enjoying extraordinary success on the secondary market—sometimes within just three or four years of creating the work. That willingness to resale art quickly by modern collectors creates opportunities for fraudsters as secondary marketplaces respond to the demand.

According to the report:

The past year set a new record in the quantity of Contemporary artworks sold at auctions around the world with a total of 132,000 transactions. Affordable works, i.e. those that sell for under $5,000, are at the heart of this dynamic. It is here that supply and demand have exploded. For the first time, more than 108,000 Contemporary lots priced at under $5,000 were sold in twelve months, reflecting a booming market and an unprecedented enthusiasm for Contemporary art that is ‘accessible’ to the middle classes.

This surge in demand creates the perfect storm for fraud. Conventional wisdom tells you that art forgers will attempt to fake the most valuable works. Yes, there will always be those that shoot for the stars. However, in 20 years of investigating art fraud, I saw far more instances of fraud at low price points. While individual losses in this price range may be too small to attract law enforcement attention, the volume makes the fraudsters’ profits substantial. One forger of abstract works on paper sold his pieces for $500 to $1,000. The forger sold in bulk and was happy with his returns. Dealers resold them at a large profit and were not motivated to question authenticity and many experts refused our help due to the reputation damage they worried might come of their mistakes.

Their companion report, The Art Market in 2024, adds:

After painting, prints stand out for the impressive number of transactions they generate: 193,000, compared to 72,000 10 years ago. The heart of this market beats to the rhythm of works accessible for just a few hundred dollars. Driven by the boom in online sales since the pandemic, this segment is experiencing spectacular expansion. The number of transactions for prints sold below $1,000 has in fact jumped by +79% since 2020. Reaching a historic high of 128,900 sales in 2024, prints have clearly confirmed their key role in the growing volume of affordable works.

In one undercover operation I conducted, a print forger admitted to faking around 5,000 compositions and producing nearly one million counterfeit prints over a span of 20 years. Every single piece was handmade and time-consuming to create. Since his arrest, technology has dramatically lowered the barrier to entry for art fraud. From AI tools that mimic an artist’s style to UV printers capable of reproducing brushstrokes, the tools now available to fraudsters are powerful and accessible. The incentives are rising—and so is the threat.

The first phase of this buildout is focused on answering two questions pertaining to an artwork you might have in front of you: Did the artist make a piece of this composition and size? If so, is this it? We are not going to stop there. One future development of the catalog will address a growing concern among artists: copyright infringement. By using an artist’s catalog to scan the internet for unauthorized use, we’ll help protect their intellectual property and uphold their rights for compensation.

We are excited about what we are building but we can’t do it alone. Your donation directly fuels the fight against forgeries, the defense of living artists, and the preservation of truth in the art world. Join us in this important mission—because every artist deserves to own their story.

Sincerely,

Ronnie Walker