Fake and Home-Made First Day Covers
Want to check whether an item on an internet auction site was really issued by the Cambodian postal authorities or not?
If a cover is a fake, or was developed by someone only for fun, it might be listed here.
DEFINITIONS
A fake first day cover (FDC) is defined on this website as having been developed with the intent of selling the item to others without telling potential buyers the truth as to the real origin of the cover, i.e. that the cover was never officially issued by the Cambodian postal authorities.
A home-made FDC is defined as having been developed by a person due to their own interest and such a person is honest about the origins of the cover if they attempt to sell the cover on an internet auction site, i.e. that the cover was not produced by the Cambodian postal authorities.
More on 'fake' FDC's
Staff of the Philately Section of the Central Post Office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, are very kind, considerate and friendly towards philatelists and those people who like to make their own First Day Covers (FDC's). Anybody can ask the staff of the Philately Section to use their 'RP2' postmark on an envelope; even the date of the RP2 postmark can be changed.
So making your own FDC with a RP2 postmark is very easy. But there is a big difference between such personal covers and those FDC's officially issued by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC) which all carry a very special postmark designed specifically for each unique FDC issued by Cambodia.
BEWARE! It would appear that a very small number of sellers are using the kindness of the staff of the Philately Section of the Central Post Office as an opportunity to try to sell their own covers on internet auction websites, such as delcampe.net, as official - rather than home-made - FDC's.
In the view of the author of this website, any Cambodian FDC that contains a RP2 postmark should be considered as suspicious! It is recommended that potential buyers of such covers check with the seller as to the origin of the FDC and request an explanation as to why no specialised postmark is on the FDC.
The Cambodian postal authorities keep a master list of officially released stamps, souvenir sheets and FDC's, so it is easy to spot the fakes if you contact the relevant people at the Central Post Office - this is not easy to do if you do not live in Phnom Penh - and it is this situation that is used by a small minority of sellers to try to cheat buyers around the world into buying such fake RP2 covers.
In the view of the author of this website, there is nothing wrong with making home-made FDC's and there is nothing wrong in trying to sell home-made FDC's on internet auction websites provided that the seller is honest in their description of the item and tells potential buyers that the home-made cover is not officially issued by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in Cambodia. Honesty is the best policy!
It is unfortunate that a very small number of sellers try to defraud others by selling their own covers without telling buyers that the cover has nothing to do with any official FDC issued by the Cambodian postal authorities which never use the RP2 postmark.
Please select from the list on the left for details of items believed to be of a false origin.
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