Jewelry merchants in New York City are finding out they have to be more careful that they’re not inadvertently buying fake gold. When merchant Ibrahim Fadl drilled into several of the gold bars he’d bought from a regular source, he discovered they were actually filled with gray tungsten.

For merchants like Fadl, it’s a costly mistake: A counterfeit 10-ounce gold bar bought for almost $18,000 ends up only being worth $3,600.

The issue of counterfeit gold is re-emerging after a reputable merchant in Manhattan discovered he’d bought $100,000 worth of fake gold bars. The fake bars are often created from hollowed out gold bars so that the serial numbers and golden exterior remain intact, while the precious gold filling can then be resold or reused after it is replaced with much cheaper tungsten.

The Chinese have gotten good at counterfeiting merchandise , even automobiles now! Fake cars are often spotted in China, fake cars including BWMs, even fake Ferrari! Some who can’t pay for the real thing choose to fake it.

The cars look just like the real deal. The labels are the only thing thats changed. The Rolls Royce Phantom is Hongqi HQD. The HQD is still $300,000 not cheap, but still less the the $450,000 the Phantom cost.

Instead of paying for luxury; some choose to fake it!

John Myatt tried to be an honest man. A gifted artistic mimic, he originally offered his paintings for sale with the tagline “Genuine fakes.” However, his collaboration with John Drew led him into criminality when Drew found he could re-sell the paintings for up to £25,000. So began what has been called “the biggest art fraud of the 20th century,” in which Myatt forged over 200 works by Bissiere, Chagall, Le Corbusier, Giacometti and more.

Convicted in 1999 and released 4 months later, Myatt now paints portraits and copies, and “genuine” Myatt forgeries have sold for up to $74,500.

A man who posed as an airline pilot and traveled in the cockpit of at least one plane was arrested in Turin Airport using forged identity cards and wearing a pilot’s uniform, Italian police said on Saturday.

The 32-year-old, whose real name was not released, allegedly created a fake identity as a Lufthansa pilot named “Andrea Sirlo,” complete with a Facebook page that included fake flight attendant friends. Police said they were alerted several months ago after “Sirlo” introduced himself as a captain to a Civil Aviation lieutenant, who became suspicious because he seemed too young for the job.

Turin Airport said in a statement it had not issued any permits in the name of the person involved. A profile on a website where users can track their flights shows “Pilot Andrea Sirlo” flying from Munich Airport to Turin on October 23, 2011. Munich Airport did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case recalls the 2002 film “Catch Me If You Can,” in which Leonardo DiCaprio played Frank Abagnale, a real-life con man who is said to have flown more than 1,600,000 kilometers (1 million miles) as a fake Pan American pilot in the 1960s.

In China there is an entire village of artist that make  fake paintings. These are not  counterfeits .  They are painted by hand, with artistic freedom in the artiest style, it is much more interesting than a duplication of the original. The village is called Da Fen Oil Painting Village  in Buji, Longgang, Shenzhen. Here is their website there are 1100 galleries and over 8,000 artists.