In the past couple years, and definitely in the past few weeks, the sports memorabilia world has been bombarded with various “made up” fake game-worn jerseys. Sometimes fake jerseys are pro-cut shirts that are being pawned off as “game-used”, by added fake wear, and sometimes the jerseys are doctored from common authentic jerseys with added star players names, numbers, patches, tags etc.

All of this is very scary for any game-worn jersey collector. Collectors have been educating themselves ever since the Internet was introduced, but these jersey doctors are still getting away with lots of crooked activity.

The scariest part of all this is that we only hear about the fake jerseys when there is proof of the fraudulent activity that has taken place. I wonder how many fakes are in collections with the owners assuming they have the real deal. I also wonder how many “jersey doctors” are out there. How do these guys sleep at night?

There are many collectors that are becoming knowledgeable of this illegal activity and it is only a matter of time before these crooks get caught.

Buyer beware ... and no matter if the item is authenticated or not, always do your own research and ask lots of questions. If the seller refuses to answer your questions, look elsewhere for your collectibles. There’s lots of good jerseys out there for everyone.