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Fake: Forgery, Lies, and eBay
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by Kenneth Walton
Sales Rank: 656662
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List Price: $14.00
$11.90
At Amazon
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Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment May 8, 2007
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416948058
ISBN-13: 978-1416948056
Product Dimensions:
8.1 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
From Publishers Weekly
In November 1998, Walton was a bored, unproductive 31-year-old Sacramento attorney when a "boorish" army buddy, Ken Fetterman, showed him his eBay art auctions on the Internet, gave him a five-minute tutorial on "the world's largest flea market" and cut Walton in on an auction that doubled his $400 investment. Soon Walton was frequenting thrift stores, making shill bids to raise the price on his own and Fetterman's auctions and selling paintings with signatures he strongly suspected were doctored by Fetterman, even allowing one buyer to think he'd landed a Giacometti. When Walton forges Richard Diebenkorn's signature on a painting that auctions for $135,805 in May 2000, the result is front-page coverage in the New York Times and an FBI investigation. The amoral slacker loses friends, lovers and his law license. eBay bans him for life; he pleads guilty to a felony and gets probation. Walton is humbled but gains a conscience, a pure love of art and a passion for computer programming. This engrossing morality tale is also a primer on how to commit Internet fraud, an indictment of eBay and its lackadaisical attitudes about crime, as well as a sad commentary on society where art is a commodity to be bought sight unseen by the greedy and foolish. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Product Review
"Fake is the real deal -- a vivid and illuminating sprint through the murky waters of online auctions, greed, and the makings of a con. Kenneth Walton's story is rapid-fire read for all, and a compelling primer for anyone thinking of buying or selling something valuable over the Internet."
-- Franz Wisner, New York Times bestselling author of Honeymoon with My Brother
Customer Reviews & Comments
This review is from: Fake: Forgery, Lies, & eBay (Hardcover)
In addition to being well written, Walton also writes his account in a way that is honest and takes responsibility for his actions. Far from being self-congratulatory, it's neither self-depricating nor self-agrandizing. Walton manages to communicate a great story while keeping his actions in context. While general readers may be most interested in his account of criminal activity, his book also offers an astute account of the federal criminal legal system and its faults, even if it does so unintentionally. He was prosecuted not because of the economic harm of his crimes, but because the case received a lot of media attention. Were it not for an atypically understanding ADA, he might not have been able to move on with his life. I won't spoil the plot - read for yourself. You won't regret it.
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Fake: Forgery, Lies, and eBay
List Price: $14.00
Available from Amazon
Price: $11.90
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