Hello~ seeing how helpful my BTS article was, I decided to write one about SEVENTEEN, a group that is getting more and more popular day by day, especially among the international fandom. I initially wanted to write about Vixx and EXO, but those two seem a bit trickier for some reasons. I might one day but who knows. I managed to find quite some examples for SEVENTEEN of fake albums. Unlike the BTS article, this won't be as detailed as I am not a fan of SEVENTEEN, and it won't be updated as much! I just am going to use my eyes to spot the genuinity and gathering a comparison for people out there. (I guess I should thank radiography classes for making my eyes even sharper?) BUT to start off, please read my other article name "How to spot a fake signed kpop album" because this will be the basis of everything. Once you are done reading that article, please read this one. I won't be repeating things such as COA certificate or Bimae stickers so please read it!
SEVENTEEN doesn't really have an attributed order for where they sign on the album. However, typically when they sign a batch they will apply the same order, usually for mwave albums they will keep the same positions. While for "promotional use" albums that they give to broadcast it is usually messier and they change the position.
Thanks to the fact that so far they have done mwave meet&greet (apart for the Love&letter repackage album) you can find a number of their signed albums floating on various platforms. Given the fact that SEVENTEEN is rising so much in popularity, this is the perfect opportunity for scammers to forge fake signatures and make money. So being cautious is important!
1st mini album: 17 Carat
As this is their debut album, the signatures will look quite different from one album to another, especially for promotional ones, as they are new to the business and still haven't gotten the hand to sign exactly the same. Signatures will look clean and pretty and extremely similar to their "official" ones which you can find for instance on the back of the photocard set of the album.
I had quite a hard time with the "promotion" silver stickers ones because many out there seemed to be not genuine in my eyes as the signatures look so different, but I am guessing that they look fishy as they just started out signing and their signatures might be wonky and they haven't found the flow yet. (I find the mwave ones sooooo much easier to just spot right away!!) I am guessing that they first started signing promotional albums first, and then by the time they had to sign for mwave they became pretty much regular with how they signed.
The mwave ones were all member signed and about 1000 copies were sold, as Pledis limited the number of albums sold.
The
1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th picture of the legit signed albums are mwave
albums. They usually follow the order of from left to right:
1st row: Woozi, S. coups, Jun
2nd row: The8, Wonwoo, Mingyu, Jeonghan
3rd row: Dino, DK, Seungkwan
4th row: Vernon, Joshua, Hoshi
Okay, onto a quick analysis!
1. The writing takes too much space, too airy, the pen used seems too thin. The overall feeling is just 100% off.
2. The pen pressure seems the same, as it seems that only one person has signed it all. The signatures are way too different from their "official" ones on their photocards, usually rookies have signatures extremely close to their "official" ones.
3. The pen pressure seems the same. If you compare many signatures look different as for the flow, for instance the8's signature usually has a lighter pen pressure on the part of the "8".
4. Once again many things look off, for instance Vernon's " r " in his signature is in cursive normally, here it isn't. He also signs his name below and not on the right. The handwriting of many members doesn't fit.
5. The signatures are oddly too small. Seungkwan's "B" is very odd, too round? It is way too cleanly done, with the same pen pressure almost. Handwriting doesn't match, Joshua's Korean handwriting and other fellow member's is different. The Korean handwriting is the same.
1. The writing takes too much space, too airy, the pen used seems too thin. The overall feeling is just 100% off.
2. The pen pressure seems the same, as it seems that only one person has signed it all. The signatures are way too different from their "official" ones on their photocards, usually rookies have signatures extremely close to their "official" ones.
3. The pen pressure seems the same. If you compare many signatures look different as for the flow, for instance the8's signature usually has a lighter pen pressure on the part of the "8".
4. Once again many things look off, for instance Vernon's " r " in his signature is in cursive normally, here it isn't. He also signs his name below and not on the right. The handwriting of many members doesn't fit.
5. The signatures are oddly too small. Seungkwan's "B" is very odd, too round? It is way too cleanly done, with the same pen pressure almost. Handwriting doesn't match, Joshua's Korean handwriting and other fellow member's is different. The Korean handwriting is the same.
2nd mini album: Boys Be Hide&Seek
This time promotional albums are easier to figure out as to whether they are genuine or not, as their signatures stabilized and are no longer as shy or clumsy looking.
There was a meet&greet which was limited in sales once again, however this time it was one member signed however some people were randomly selected to receive an all signed one.
HIDE ver.
Onto a quick analyzis:
1. The signatures are out of the frame which is very uncommon. They usually try to avoid to sign outside the frame whenever they can, but this seemed to have been deliberately done. Pen pressure looks the same. Signatures look off.
2. Signatures are taking too much space, are not corresponding and too round. Pen pressure is the same.
3. This person was doing a careful job in trying to copy well the signatures. However several things look off. The signatures look a bit too clean. Vernon's "V" ends too quickly, he would normally make it long and last. Hoshi's signature (the bottom right in case you forgot), is way too cleanly done and has a pen pressure way too strong. The face of the character is too round?
SEEK ver.
HIDE ver.
Onto a quick analyzis:
1. The signatures are out of the frame which is very uncommon. They usually try to avoid to sign outside the frame whenever they can, but this seemed to have been deliberately done. Pen pressure looks the same. Signatures look off.
2. Signatures are taking too much space, are not corresponding and too round. Pen pressure is the same.
3. This person was doing a careful job in trying to copy well the signatures. However several things look off. The signatures look a bit too clean. Vernon's "V" ends too quickly, he would normally make it long and last. Hoshi's signature (the bottom right in case you forgot), is way too cleanly done and has a pen pressure way too strong. The face of the character is too round?
SEEK ver.
Analysis once again! Sadly I couldn't find a lot of examples for that one, but will try to update if ever I find more in the future.
1.Once again as mentioned for Hide ver., the signatures are outside the frame, same comment as 1. of hide ver.
2. What triggers our curiosity on this one is the fact that the signatures are on the BACK of the album which I have never seen any genuine copies signed at the back for this album? The pen pressure looks the same and many signatures are off.
1st Album: Love&Letter
The meet&greet was no longer limited in sales. It is still one member signed however there is no longer random selection for an all signed album, bummer! You would get and elusive photocard... Hence all signed ones are most likely "promotional" ones with the silver Komca sticker and perhaps you might find some coming from special events which I don't know since I don't follow and I am just here to compare the signatures.
LOVE ver.
Here is the analysis:
1. The same pen presuyre, the lack of more "details" of the signatures is a big giveaway. For instance for Vernon, the "non" part is almost unreadable.
2. The pen pressure is the same. The signatures look off. Especially Hoshi's signature, the "face" part looks so squished and it doesn't even look like a face anymore.
3. The pen pressure is the same, they don't sign inside the booklet. The signatures look way too off.
LETTER ver.
Once again the analysis:
1. The signatures look way too off. Pen pressure is the same. Other things we can see is for instance that for this album, Joshua will sign diagonally. What is wrong for instance: Dino's signature is lacking the "o". Vernon's "n" is spreading too far, which is abnormal.
2. The signatures are too airy and too cursive. Just comparing with the right and you'll see how different it is. Plus there are no genuine signed albums with the inside of the booklet "blue part" signed.
3. Same as 2.
1st Album Repackage: Love&Letter
No meet&greet this time!
The signatures got quite messy!
CURRENTLY FINDING MORE PICTURES.
CURRENTLY FINDING MORE PICTURES.
Update 17.5.29 : Hello! This seventeen article will be updated during summer vacation. Sorry for not updating ever since last September when it was created!
Pictures were taken from various platforms, apart from several 17carat genuine signed albums, they belong to their rightful owners and all credits to them!
Feel free to comment but please do not ask me whether a signed album is genuine or not. I do not have time to analyze the legitimacy of each album. Please read my other articles, they will surely help you out in your quest of finding out whether a signed album is genuine or not.
