The nazis had a scheme to air drop fake notes into the UK during ww2, and I think the allies had similar schemes.
It's not new, although I'm not familiar with anyone doing it with postage stamps.
Pratchett has done it though.
My initial assumption would have been one of those "we make literally everything and do it for super cheap" websites like Wish or Temu. It does seem like an odd direction for the chinese government to go, but as they are not russia I may give them the benefit of the doubt and assume there's actually some strategy behind it, if they are involved.
It's more likely they turned a blind eye, if they knew at all.
Also, the penalty for forging what is essentially currency is far too low.
“What’s King Charles gonna do about it?” Winnie the Pooh chuckles earnestly as he sips the world’s finest oolong.
Just restarted Discworld #1 today! Be awhile till I get all the way to the post office novel.
The US had a similar case last year
60 million, wow.
Thanks for the sauce!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Post Office minister, Kevin Hollinrake, has called on Royal Mail to investigate allegations that factories in China are mass-producing fake British stamps for export.
Use of a counterfeit stamp can result in a £5 fine but realistic fakes are being sold online and bought unwittingly by the public and smaller retailers.
The Mail reported seeing Chinese websites offering sheets of 50 counterfeit stamps for buyers willing to commit to a minimum purchase of 20,000.
Alan Mendoza, of the Henry Jackson Society, a neoconservative thinktank, told the Telegraph: “It is inconceivable that a large-scale counterfeit operation like this could be occurring without the knowledge and therefore tacit approval of the Chinese Communist party.
The fakes are often entering the supply chain via smaller shops who are not required to buy directly from Royal Mail and instead source from wholesalers in bulk.
According to the Telegraph, the fakes are sold on widely used online stores as well as websites that mimic the official Royal Mail site.
The original article contains 552 words, the summary contains 165 words. Saved 70%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
So am I the weird one for walking to my local post office and buying stamps directly from them when I need another roll? It's not like the average person needs so many syamps that saving 50 cents per roll will matter much, and any legitimate source apart from the post office naturally has a markup in price.
Funny, seems like the neocons should be encouraging such brazen free-market behavior
Let the market decide, Mendoza!
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