BURUNDI ILLEGAL STAMPS
2009

Information and Reference of Illegal Stamps for Burundi Dating 2009

On January 23, 2012 the postal administration for Burundi by request to K.J.S. McKeown (Director of Markets Development) posted to the Universal Postal Union a circular warning of the discovery of a number of illegal stamps created with their country name that are on the market. The circular is number 8. You can view the circular in its entirety in the PDF file I have linked here.

UPU Circular Number 8

It states the following.

Republic of Burundi – Counterfeit postage stamps

Dear Sir/Madam,

The Ministry of Trade, Industry, Posts and Tourism of the REPUBLIC OF BURUNDI asks me to inform UPU member countries of the following:

"The Ministry of Trade, Industry, Posts and Tourism wishes to inform you again of the existence of several illegal issues being sold online in the name of the Republic of Burundi.

The following is a list of these illegal issues in our possession released in 2009, 2010 and 2011 in the name of our country and being sold on the Internet:

– Cats – Fauna

– African Fauna – Animals of the world

– Ferrari – Butterflies

– Fish – Dinosaurs

– Birds – Male chess masters

– Parrots – Submarines

– Dogs – Locomotives

– Owls – Planes of the world war

The following illegal issues were also sold on the Internet in 2009 and 2010:

– Trains

– Animaux sauvages

– Locomotives

We condemn such practices and recall that illegal stamp issues harm the reputation of not only Burundi Post, but also philatelic services in general. Furthermore, such issues are a flagrant violation of our national legislation on the production of postage stamps and of article 8 of the Universal Postal Convention and recommendation C 26/2008 of the 24th UPU Congress.

In this connection, we are counting on the initiatives taken by the UPU and the WADP to combat this phenomenon. We are also counting on the solidarity of other designated operators and our philatelic partners, whom we would ask to take the necessary measures to help us identify the perpetrators of these acts and bring them to justice.

We should also remind our philatelic partners and UPU member countries that our legal postage stamps issued since 2002 have been registered on the following website www.wnsstamps.ch."

Yours faithfully,

K.J.S. McKeown

Director of Markets Development

The circular vaguely describes topics of counterfeit sets made between 2009 and 2011. None are specified by year. Thus, the circular causes some confusion as several of the topics were actually issued by Burundi during those years. Especially in 2011 when Stamperija gained a contract and pumped out a massive glut of stamps of which many are on the topics described in the circular.

I wish to note the title of the circular as well. It says "Counterfeit postage stamps". Yet another circular verifying that illegal stamps are
counterfeit stamps.

Presently in 2022, we can see what was issued and what was not quite easily due to catalog listings online and offline. You will see that the illegal stamps are very different from the "issued" stamps and when searching in sales by the public how they easily "pop out" at you in the images provided.

Let us begin!

To start, here are recommended sites to use for reference. As I stated, the WNS system is short and incomplete on what is real. The stamps that are shown should be researched further before you buy them.

The Universal Postal Union WNS website

I have found the Colnect online catalog to be very helpful. Sadly because of the glut of abusive issues in some years it is a pain to go through those pages.

The Colnect Online Catalog for Burundi

Some of the illegal stamps are shown in their Illegal Stamps section and noted as such. Several years are covered well. Still nothing close to what is out there as you will see.

The Colnect Online Catalog Illegal Stamp Section for Burundi

I have found the Stampworld.com Catalog to be very helpful as well but there are problems. Again, because of the abuse many of the pages are extremely long.

The Stampworld Online Catalog for Burundi

Here we go!

Many of the following illegal stamps can be found as imperforates and as color proof sets as well. Many exist on fake First Day Covers too.
Most times now (2022) the souvenir sheet sets and sheetlet sets are sold individually. Many times the stamps have been removed from the sheetlets and souvenir sheets. All of these "tactics" are used to avoid detection by experts and savvy collectors.

Sellers that call these "private", "locals", "Cinderella's", "unauthorized" are deceiving you. They are illegal stamps produced by a stamp dealer that is bent on ripping you off! Some sellers state "we offer them because they are on the market". Well how about you use a different dealer because that seller is "on the market"? If the stamp societies, auction sites and all other venues kicked these sellers off of their sites then they would have to comply or lose their ability to sell anything.

The following images are free for the use of all to use to alert the public to them. If anyone wants to make a public list of users on eBay, Delcampe and elsewhere who are selling these issues....fine by me since the UPU, PWMO and others appear to have given up or have not been updated in years.

If you have purchased any of these stamps from a dealer or if that dealer offers them, you should avoid that dealer! You will only be supporting illegal stamp makers who are only ripping you off.

2009

In 2009 after five years of silence, the British counterfeit producer launched a massive attack on Burundi producing numerous sets and series of counterfeit illegal stamps in the name of Burundi. In 2009 Burundi was still running a conservative stamp program. In 2009 Burundi issued a total of 37 stamps in the form of mainly large souvenir sheets. All of them were printed by Cartor which is a reputable high security printer. So your first clue that any stamp dating 2009 is illegal is to just look at the bottom frame of any 2009 Burundi stamp and if it does not have the "Cartor" logo on it then it is counterfeit.

Following are images of all the illegal stamps I found offered on various sites and auction venues dating 2009 in the name of Burundi. The majority of them are being sold by mainly British criminal illegal stamp distributors and their associates in other countries. What some call the British stamp mafia. These clowns have been selling them for over a decade now non-stop. Once you "connect the dots" it is obvious who they are. you will see there are many more topics than listed in the circular. I will note the ones described in the circular and why it is confusing due to the same topic being used on legal stamps of the time.

Animal topics have always been "confusing" as the criminal producers will use different general inscription titles on many of them. These titles range from just plain "Animals" to "Fauna of the world" to "African Fauna" and so forth. Any stamps on the topic of wild animals is popular to collect and the criminal producers have made extensive "series" on them. The changing titles meant to cause confusion when you sort out what is real and what is not. The following couple "series" shows you what I mean. I have seen sets produced after a circular was made on the reported topic, using that same topic to "replace" the reported set.

2009 Burundi Africa Animals Lions Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6

This first "series" is titled simply "AFRICA".



2009 Burundi Africa Animals Rhinoceros Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6



2009 Burundi Africa Animals Zebras Giraffes Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6



This next "series" is titled "AFRICAN FAUNA". Is it the ones described in circular 8? Most likely yes because it is the only "series" that is entitled with it. None in 2010 or 2011 including the Stamperija stamps have this title.

2009 Burundi African Fauna Animals Cheetahs Lions Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4



2009 Burundi African Fauna Animals Elephant Bison Rhino Lion Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4



2009 Burundi African Fauna Animals Cheetahs Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 2



2009 Burundi African Fauna Animals Lions Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 2



2009 Burundi African Fauna Animals Lion Cheetah Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 2



You can see the topic of Birds is described in the circular. This topic has been illegally produced in all three years and also made by Stamperija in 2011.

2009 Burundi Birds Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6



The topic of Butterflies is described and again illegal stamps have been produced on the topic for all three years.

2009 Burundi Butterflies Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 6



2009 Burundi Butterflies Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4



The topic of Cats is described and again illegal stamps have been produced on the topic for all three years.

2009 Burundi Cats Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 6



2009 Burundi Cats Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 4



2009 Burundi Cats Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 2



On the topic of Chess we see they describe "Male Chess Masters". This is describing only one of the illegal sheets from 2011.

2009 Burundi Chess Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6



2009 Burundi Chess Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4



The topic of Dogs is in the same status as the topic of Cats.

2009 Burundi Dogs Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 6

Part 1

Part 2


2009 Burundi Dogs Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 4

Part 1

Part 2


2009 Burundi Dogs Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 2



2009 Burundi Eagles Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4



The topic of Ferrari is described. The problem is, is it the 2009 set or the 2010 set or both?

2009 Burundi Ferrari Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4



2009 Burundi Ferrari Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 2



The topic of Fish is extensively used in 2009 and 2011 counterfeit sets. Which are described in the circular?

2009 Burundi Fish Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 6

Part 1

Part 2


2009 Burundi Gandhi Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4



2009 Burundi Horses Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4



The topic of Owls is also described in the circular. The problem again is that counterfeits on the topic of Owls was made in 2009 and 2011.

2009 Burundi Owls Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 4



2009 Burundi Owls Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 2



2009 Burundi Pandas Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 4



The topic of Parrots is also described in the circular. The problem again is that counterfeits on the topic of Parrots was made in 2009 and 2011.

2009 Burundi Parrots Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6



2009 Burundi Primates Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 6



The topic of Trains is also described in the circular. The problem again is that counterfeits on the topic of Trains was made in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

2009 Burundi Trains Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 6



2009 Burundi Trains Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheets of 4



You can see that because the circular is so vague and general in its descriptions that it is difficult to define which illegal stamp set is actually being described. It does not really matter though as the purpose of the circular is to let you know that counterfeit illegal stamps exist in the name of Burundi during the time period described.

In 2010 the British counterfeit producer continues to make illegal stamps in the name of Burundi. Also, a new producer appears!

View Next Page here!

References taken from:
UPU Circular Number 8
Major Stamp Catalogs
Internet Research

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