How to identify a counterfeit (fake) copy of Practical Charts

Unfortunately, criminals illegally print unauthorized copies of books and sell them through major book retailers, who may fail to verify that the books that they’re selling are genuine. It’s possible, then, that your copy of Practical Charts may be a counterfeit, even if you bought it from a major, reputable book seller.

Counterfeit books usually have defects such as missing or out-of-sequence pages or poor color reproduction. If you notice defects in your copy of Practical Charts and suspect that you may have a counterfeit copy, please check all of the following:

There should be no quality problems, such as:

  • Missing, out-of-sequence, or upside-down words, paragraphs, images, or pages

  • Random words or characters

  • Significant “bleed-through” of ink from one side of a page to the other, or smudged ink

  • Faded or inaccurate-looking colors

  • Pages that are not well-attached to the spine of the book

The back cover should have a holographic sticker that looks like this:

 
 

If you happen to have an ultraviolet light (a.k.a. a “blacklight”), placing the back cover of the book under that light should reveal the Practical Reporting Inc. logo:

 
 

There should be a serial number printed on the back cover:

 
 

The book’s dimensions should be EXACTLY 0.63” by 8.0” by 10.0” (1.6cm by 20.3cm by 25.4cm)

 
 

If any one of these doesn’t check out, you probably have a counterfeit copy, unfortunately.

What to do if your copy is a counterfeit

If you’re able to return the counterfeit copy to the book seller from which you purchased it, do so. Ideally, complain to the seller that the copy was counterfeit so that they can investigate. Then, purchase a replacement copy from a different book seller that will (hopefully) be genuine.

We’d be very grateful if you let us know if you purchased a copy that ended up being a counterfeit so that we can track the prevalence of this problem. Please contact us and include details about how you determined that your copy was a counterfeit, as well as when and from whom you purchased the counterfeit copy. As you can imagine, this is a serious concern for any author or publisher, and we want to know about it.

Unfortunately, we can’t replace counterfeit copies or offer refunds because we didn’t produce or sell the book to you in the first place, scummy criminals did :-(