I have purchased a lot of autographs ceritifed by PSA/DNA over a one year span. Then I noticed that these cerificates don't look hard to duplicate to me. I felt I could duplicate it myself. So I got one of those ultra violet flashlights that lets me see the invisible ink that PSA puts on them and I noticed two things that stuck out.

1) The invisible ink was usually been put on the autograph itself looking like this(1259) and it's stamped on there and not hand drawn.

2) The PSA sticker will have a crosshatch like a checker style background.

I sent an email to PSA about some stuff I had that didn't have the invisible ink. They did not respond back to me so I have come to some conclusions.

That is people have found a way to take the PSA stickers off of the items and put them on another item that they autographed themselves. And then they send the original autograph back to PSA and get another certificate and everything with it again.

I have found some that don't have the invisible ink, and others that don't have the checker style on the sticker. I have also noticed that the stickers were tampered with on the ones that didn't have the invisible ink. Like a piece of the white would be missing on the sticker meaning somebody tried to take it off and succeeded mostly. Another thing was the sticker doesn't stick entirely as well either which gives another evidence of being tampered with. The stickers are supposed to be tamperproof meaning they will break if you try to take it off. If you see even just a little dot that is missing on the sticker or maybe a small crack somewhere, it is definately tampered with. The PSA sticker looks like its plastic with a glossy look on it. The fake stickers that I've seen are not glossy.

I believe if its missing the invisible ink, then it is a fake autograph even with the PSA certificate. If you collect a lot of PSA ceritifed autographs, you will need to buy the uv ultra violet flashlights to see if you have the real thing. You can't buy this light at any store like Walmart, Kmart, Best Buy, ect. I purchased mine on ebay so I suggest that collectors should do the same. The flashlight doesn't cost that much, roughtly about $12 which includes shipping. Police officers use the same light to check for counterfeit money.

I am unable to present a picture of what the invisible ink looks like because the flash of the camera keeps making it disappear so you won't be able to see it on any pictures, only in person.

update:4/23

I can now confirm that there are fake PSA autographs. I have just received an item that I personally sent to PSA and it has the invisible ink on it. I also sent one of the fake PSA autographs to JSA and they said it is not a genuine autograph. James Spence used to work for PSA so he knows all about PSA.

I don't think knowing a seller's reputation is going to help all that well in this category. You just won't know who to trust anymore nowadays. They've even started to make fake scoreboard and Upper Deck holograms and certificates.You can confirm an upperdeck autograph by calling them up and giving them the sticker number. They will tell you who's auto it is and on what item. If it doesn't match your item then it is fake.

I can only tell if an Upper Deck autograph item is real on jerseys. Upper Deck will always have autographed authentic jerseys. If the jersey itself is not an authentic, then it is a fake. Fake jersey means fake autographed Upper Deck product. You can tell if a jersey is fake by looking at the stitchings on the jersey. If you see a loose string or poor quality on the jersey somewhere, or if its a silk screen(ironed on) jersey. These are all signs that should tell you to stay away. I have seen fake jerseys where everything is stitched on, but the stripes are silk screened, a very easy one to spot.

Global uses an invisible matrix which is stated on their certificates. I have been unable to find any invisible ink on them anywhere. Global isn't as good of an autograph authentication as many may think. I gave them an autographed Drew Gooden which I got personally and they said it was no good. They told me that since the autographed was written so sloppy they couldn't put their company logo on this item. They said "We're not saying its not real." What are you saying? Your job was to tell if its real or not. Who in the world would want to forge Drew Gooden's autograph. Nobody in Cleveland would want to forge Gooden's autograph, he signed so many of them in Cleveland already that almost everybody has one. I was really pissed at Global. They are not as good as I thought they were. I got the Gooden authenticated by JSA and they said it was good. I told JSA about what Global said and did. They said they couldn't believe it. I showed them the form that Global gave me. JSA now knows that Global isn't as reputable as it may be. I would question any autograph Global authenticates until I get a second opinion. I'm starting to think that Global may have authenticated fake autographs since they didn't authenticate a real one because it was sloppy.

JSA writes a little invisible scribble somewhere but not all the time. I don't like the certificates JSA gives out either. Its just a piece of paper.

From what you've read so far, don't be discouraged to buy PSA ceritifed autographs. What you should do is buy only PSA as it is the only one you can tell real from fake thus far. I would only buy PSA and would stay away from the others until more info can be found on what to look out for.

I have discovered a link that would prove that there are fake PSA autographs at http://www.frankthomascollection.com/PSA_DNA.html. It's a link to a big Frank Thomas collector who has collected his autograph for 16 years and was stunned with a PSA certified Frank Thomas that didn't look the same as the rest of his autographs.

One note  to all of you people that are looking to buy NFL jerseys on ebay, real or fake. Almost all jerseys on ebay are fake. If you got it for less than $150, it is guaranteed a fake. You can tell if a jersey is fake or not by looking for the imperfection on the jersey. All fake jerseys are sewn on a embroidery machine, and anything sewn on a machine will have imperfections somewhere. I know this because I work for an embroidery factory. I have 8 years experience, I can tell you that the authentic jerseys are done by hand with no sewing machine. That is why the authentic jerseys look so perfect than compared to the EQT jerseys.

In my own opinion, I would never pay over $100 for a jersey. I would wear one fake jersey that costed me $35 over a real one that costs $200. I have read negative feedback people leave to sellers who are selling fake jerseys. Yes it is against the law, but why would you want to spend real money on a jersey. Its just a shirt with numbers and a name on it. If you want the real thing, your just buying a shirt for $200 and it only costed Reebok $20 in US money. If people can duplicate Reeboks jerseys almost similarly, then it should have costed them the same amount as Reebok to make a jersey. Reebok has workers working in sweat shops for very little pay. Almost similar to slave labor. Most of their jerseys are made overseas because labor is cheaper over there. Reebok will never make a jersey in the United States and the money we spend on the real thing goes overseas to foreigners instead of staying in the USA. So you decide who is wrong here, the people selling fake jerseys or the ones making the real ones.

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