SEIZED 500 COUNTERFEIT WORKS WORTH 7 MLN, 12 REPORTED

Over 500 counterfeit works of art worth 7 million Euros have been confiscated in the homes of unsuspecting buyers. The collectors were in fact convinced they were making “a good investment” by purchasing online paintings, drawings, graphic designs and chromolithographs by major modern and contemporary artists like Matisse, Magritte, Prampolini, Burri, Fontana, De Chirico, Guttuso, Sironi, Rotella, Migneco, Capogrossi, Gentilini and Boccioni. The Carabinieri conducted their investigations throughout the national territory after having monitored the online transactions on the best-known Internet sites and continuously compared the works against art history archives, which led to the apprehension of twelve persons for counterfeiting and marketing fake works of art and to the recovery of all the counterfeited works of art put up for sale by single advertisors thanks to electronic tracking systems. .