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On June 23, 2010, Wein-Plus published the article "Rich with counterfeit cult wines!" in the column Reports.

The ominous Mr. X is now in custody. The wine world has one worry less. One and a half years after our report, the Klagenfurt regional court sentenced the fraudster who sold rows of high-quality but faked wines to gullible customers.

On September 22, the trial against Mr. G., an Austrian eBay seller, took place. He sold - as reported several times on WineCollect and in various media, just also Wein-Plus - rows of Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild from the expensive 1982 vintage. Other wines and other vintages (1945!) were also faked. He mostly bought original bottles of the above-mentioned wines on eBay, however, from the cheap and weaker vintages like 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984 and the like. On such wines, he then stuck the labels with the 1982 vintage imprint. These can be bought at eBay France between 2.- and 10.- euro without much effort.

The customer, who buys such fake bottles, notices the fraud as late as after taking off the capsule. Then the shock is big when instead of the 1982, a 1984 on the cork reveals the fake. With such bottles, the fraudster could be proven to have caused damage amounting to an astonishing 30,000 euros. The fact that such sums were transferred by unsuspecting wine lovers only makes me shake my head!

The verdict after a few hours of trial was severe commercial fraud and 27 months of imprisonment, 9 months of which unconditional, 18 months on probation. However, that was only the criminal conviction, and customers who want their money back will now have to wait for the civil proceedings. This will involve buyers from Austria, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland to demand at least part of the money paid back. However, the chances to get back the money are very bad because the convict does not own any material values - except for a few bottles of faked wines, probably. According to his own statements, the money was used to satisfy the fraudster's gambling addiction.

Those who want to buy cheap cult wines should always ask themselves why rare wines are offered cheaply!

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