Counterfeiting with empty wine bottles, is this crazy?

[Roy Hersh]

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2 ... erfeiting/

I have heard of desperate times resulting in using desperate measures but this is a bit over the top!

Your thoughs?

[Eric Menchen]

I'm about halfway through The Billionaire's Vinegar now, which is quite enjoyable, BTW. This is people continuing a thousands year old criminal custom, taking advantage of our modern technological marketplace. While disturbing, I can't call it crazy.

[Peter W. Meek]

There's been a lot of counterfeiting of Italian Barolos and Super Tuscans in recent years.

[Eric Menchen]

So maybe SOS is a good sign, until the counterfeiters figure out they should intentionally put a little leak mark on their "older" bottles.

[Roy Hersh]

Can you even conceive of the type of person it takes to buy empty bottles on Ebay with the intent to defraud some victim by refilling the bottle and selling it at auction? That is why I used the term "crazy" as to me, that is one crazy premeditated act.

[Andy Velebil]

Sadly there are crooks and cheats out there just waiting to take advantage of someone. In the past year I've been using a large black "Sharpie" marker and marking all over the labels on the bottle before I throw them into the trash. I even do this at the end of dinner for empty restaurant bottles that I leave on the table to be tossed out by the wait staff. That way the bottles have zero chance of ever being reused by some crook looking to make a buck.

[Eric Menchen]

That way the bottles have zero chance of ever being reused by some crook looking to make a buck.

Scratch "zero" and replace with "lesser." You're making more work for them, as now the crooks have to make new labels. I was just reading how someone began to notice counterfeit bottles because their label colors matched those in a book, which the crook apparently used for reference, and not the originals.

[Andy Velebil]

Yes you can never totally stop someone. But at least this way they have to work much harder at at and it removes a lot of temptation from someone looking to make a quick buck. I got the idea from someone in a wine tasting circle of mine who works for an auction house.

[Stewart T.]

And THAT, my friends, is why Provenance is so important...

[Roy Hersh]

Well said, Stewart!