Complaint Review: Autographs America Fakes Stuff Doing Business From Washington State

BRIAN BURKEL - Forged Autographs Scam Artist
There have been many companies in the world that have produced excellent quality Forgeries and have been defrauding this world with fake autographs for years online.

Some of the online aliases and names used in connection with these scammers are:

losangelesrocks92684
backstagefun
collectors_network
collectorsuniverseltd
qualityonlineautographs
autographs_america2001
great_american_autographs
original_autographs_4u

All of these aliases have been perpetrated thru the same person who currently owns and operates a business called Autographs America located in Maple Valley WA. with the web server and design company out of China.

This company has been selling fake/forged autographs seen on:

Guitars
Pick Guards
Albums
Laser Discs
Movie Posters
Drum Heads

And various other Music related items under many aliases over the last 10 years to unsuspecting customers on e-bay and other memorabilia websites. The people that purchase these fakes are reputable people like Casinos, autograph dealers, collectors and re-sellers.

This creates a great problem in our country and abroad since there have been thousands of fake/forged autographed items sold over the years and re-sold with fake certificates of authenticity.

There have been thousands of these forged items introduced into our economy and the public for over 10 years by these scam artists. The one company that stands out the most is none other than Autographs America which currently is making approx. $10,000 dollars daily.

These same people use some of the best Artists/Forgers in their game of trickery, the C.O.A's that this company and others are using are fake, also the authentication companies do not exist if you research them.

Buyers Beware, there are countless Musical items as well as Movie Items out there and the only real thing about these items is the fact the seller of these items is getting rich and they claim if you cannot prove that the item is fake, tough luck to get your money back.

Unfortunately all anybody can say is that to the best of their knowledge the autograph is fake but since this is only an opinion because they were not present at the time of signing it is difficult to prove.

Autographs America is owned by Brian Burkel who resides in Maple Valley WA. Also residing at this address is Brian's New Wife and business partner, Wu Xin Burkel who was a Customs Officer in Guangzhou China for the last 10 Years and now helps Brian with all the illegal activities from China to the United States.

These two have set up shops in China as well as his residence in Maple Valley and is continuing to scam innocent people to believe that the autographed items he is selling are real. Brian's new website is http://www.autographsamerica.com since he no longer works with eBay after they closed down his operations.

Back in 2002 Brian first started having celebrity photos autographs forged by an Artist and he would have these listed on eBay. The scam turned into albums, drum heads and guitars and he has been running this scam ever since and has been living the good life with having new cars 3 homes, house keepers, gardeners etc. After e-bay shut this person down he fled to China where he revamped his operation and married his new wife

Brian returned from China in September of 2007 after a Rock Concert he tried to promote FAILED from which he scammed over 2000 people in believing that the show was going to include great acts. Him being in China had nothing to do with skipping out with the money. He was in China visiting his new mail order bride. This trip was his second visit.

Brian also has a harassment case filed against him from an employee who worked at the Ravensdale, WA. post office where Brian would ship the forged goods to eBay auction winners who were told they were purchasing authentic autographed items.

This is how Brian's eBay auction scam worked... and still works the same way with Autographs America. Brian would go to local retailers or anywhere in the country and purchase used albums and memorabilia from used record stores. He would do this about once per week. He would then take them to one of his homes; this house was rented by Brian. Then the forger would come to this rented house twice weekly and forge the artist's autographs.

Brian paid this person very well, cash daily, and more when Brian paid late. After the albums were signed they were then taken to another home. Here they were photographed and prepared to be listed on eBay. Listing on eBay was always done on Thursdays.

When the auctions were closed, the sold items were then taken to Brian's second home where they were packed up and ready to be taken to the post office in Ravensdale Wa. All employees were paid cash daily. Brian pretty much did all the foot work. There are no accounts under Brian's name or his new wife; he makes sure his name doesn't come-up since he has a Felony conviction for cocaine dealing and distribution which he spent 11 years in prison.

Buyers BEWARE they have re-surfaced. There is now one main site he is operating from and a few other small eBay sites the big one is his own website that he had built for him in China with his new wife Wu Xin. It is called Autographs America at http://www.autographsamerica.com and it is a well put together site with hundreds of forged items.

The way it works is simple, over the last 10 years Brian has gone to every concert that came to town taking proof photos of the artists signing items that he would bring with him to the concerts, well he still has these originals posted up all over his house but he hires a very talented artist to come in and forge these signatures on duplicate items that he photographs, Photoshop's and then lists them for sale including autographs such as Elvis and the Beatles and makes approx. $100,000.00 per month ripping people off.

Now the story is pretty much the same except that there are different players since the fiasco with the concert and his operation was shut down by eBay. Brian now imports all his Guitars from China.

WEIFANG HONGYUN MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
CO., LTD. GAOYA TOWN, CHANGLE COUNTY SHANDONG CH

Sea
Seattle, Washington
U.S.A.