Archeological frauds threaten Peruvian cultural heritage

Peruvian fraudsters take advantage of victims’ gullibility and interest in pre-Columbian Andean history plus the vulnerability of powerless indigenous peoples and rampant corruption to commit archeological frauds that exploit and denigrate cultures.

A curious case of supposedly alien mummies in Peru strangely led to a congressional proposal in a country with rich historical traditions of ancient cultures, and more recently, endemic corruption. Fraudsters have exploited both in numerous international fraud schemes, including some related to the country’s treasured antiquities.

In 2017, Gaia.com began promoting a video series, “Unearthing Nazca,” that suggested researchers had discovered a potentially extraterrestrial mummy in the Andes region of South America with an elongated skull, and only three extended digits on each hand and foot.

The initial teaser video enticed viewers to pay for a series that included “experts” analyzing the mummy they named “Maria” that bore a striking resemblance to another Nazca mummy promoted by a Peruvian YouTuber in 2016, which bonafide professionals quickly debunked as a fabrication consisting of human and reptile remains. (See The Racism Behind Alien Mummy Hoaxes, by Christopher Heaney, The Atlantic, Aug. 1, 2017.)

Eventually, in late 2018, then Peruvian Congressman Armando Villanueva proposed a bill to officially declare the investigation of the Nazca mummies an item of national interest, which could potentially provide resources to analyze them.

By the time Villanueva made his proposal to the Peruvian congress, scientists concluded from at least four independent analyses of DNA samples and other mummy materials that they were modified, pre-Columbian mummies. The man who reportedly discovered the mummies had previously been arrested by police for possessing forged bank notes and gold in 2007, and for affiliation with a gang dedicated to stealing and illicitly trading archeological artifacts of the Nazca civilization. (See Un congresista y las momias de Nasca: Cuando La Pseudociencia es peor que una película de terror, Sociedad Secular Humanista del Peru, Utero, Feb. 15, 2019.)

Make fraud’s impact visible

Although some might argue that the faked alien mummies and profits earned off their promotion never caused any material harm, they do highlight persistent archeological fraud related to pre-Colombian civilizations in the Andes. In an interview with Fraud Magazine, Tomasita Pazos, CFE, founder and president of the ACFE Lima Chapter, described how these frauds do affect Peru.

“I believe that as fraud examiners one of our main contributions is to make the impact of fraud visible to others. People need to be aware that there is no such thing as victimless crimes,” Pazos says. “Fraud always goes beyond the monetary loss. In the case of archeological frauds, it has a negative impact upon the nation’s identity, history and culture.”

Archeological hoaxes like the faked mummies and “ancient aliens” theories denigrate the achievements of prehistoric Andean civilizations, and the international trade in antiquities motivates looting, smuggling and forging of artifacts, says Charles Stanish, Ph.D., a professor of archeology at the University of South Florida. He’s executive director of the university’s Institute for the Advanced Study of Culture and the Environment and has extensive experience working in the Andes and verifying the authenticity of antiquities. Both forged and authentic artifacts also facilitate other — perhaps unexpected — fraud schemes like tax evasion and money laundering, he says.

Fraudulent artifacts aren’t a recent phenomenon, Stanish says. “[Faked artifacts or antiquities] go back basically forever,” he says. “In archeology, we point out that ancient Romans in the second century A.D. actually faked ancient Greek sculpture from the fifth century B.C. So, it’s a long, long tradition around the world.”

Fraud always goes beyond the monetary loss. In the case of archeological frauds, it has a negative impact upon the nation’s identity, history and culture.

A major factor in the prevalence of Peruvian forged artifacts involves the lack of risk that fraudsters face, Stanish says. “It’s not illegal to fake a pot; it’s not illegal to import a fake pot. If you sell it as an authentic piece, it’s a civil offense, not a criminal offense,” he says. “Most people who buy fakes don’t report it because they feel humiliated. It’s a pretty good business for organized crime.”

Indeed, Peru’s law protecting cultural heritage only prohibits attacks on archeological monuments and the illegal extraction of cultural assets, not the forging of artifacts. However, Stanish is familiar with several schemes to fake artifacts that do involve violations of this law through looting.

“You have a lot of small workshops that knock out fake antiquities in the Andes. In some cases, looters have even found the original molds used, and they know where the clay sources are, so they make perfect replicas,” Stanish says.

Fraudsters come up with even more elaborate schemes to replicate extremely valuable artifacts, such as those from the Paracas culture, one of Peru’s most prominent pre-Inca civilizations that lasted hundreds of years, which is credited with influencing the later Nazca culture. Stanish described one particularly profitable method he encountered. “Paracas textiles are some of the most valuable in the world,” Stanish says. “Looters were stealing from slightly later tombs, getting all the textiles and thread from the tombs and re-weaving them into ‘Paracas textiles’ from a couple centuries earlier. They were going for $20,000 to 50,000.”

Such expensive artifacts create opportunities for fraudsters who net much more than financial returns from exploiting tourists. Museums and the art market operate with minimal transparency or oversight, writes Donna Yates in the Journal of Financial Crime. Museums and the art market don’t ask questions when anonymous donors offer art works that could be stolen, forged or otherwise illicit. The donors can then claim massive tax credits based on museums’ subjective appraisals of art and antiquities. (See Museums, collectors, and value manipulation: tax fraud through donation of antiquities, by Donna Yates, Journal of Financial Crime, 2016.)

“The IRS changed some rules so that the institution receiving an artifact can’t do the appraisal,” Stanish says. “It’s a good way for organized crime to launder money,” he says.

String of high-profile corruption scandals

Peru’s congress never managed to officially act on Villanueva’s bill to officially declare the investigation of the Nazca mummies an item of national interest. Incoming President Martín Vizcarra dissolved the legislative body in September 2019 because it stonewalled his efforts to target corruption in the wake of the Odebrecht scandal that affected the entire South American continent and beyond. (See Peru president dissolves congress amid anti-corruption push, by Franklin Briceño and Christine Armario, AP, Sept. 30, 2019, and Chile’s anti-corruption model raises Latin American standards, by Liseli Pennings, Fraud Magazine, May/June 2018.)

Peru’s stonewalling congress marked the latest in a troubling string of high-profile corruption scandals that seem to perpetually afflict the country’s political landscape. In early 2019, almost all of Peru’s living former presidents faced considerable legal challenges related to bribery or corruption, and major scandals implicated the executive, legislative and judiciary branches of Peru’s government. The severity of the fallout from so many scandals included former president Alan Garcia committing suicide while he eyed preliminary detention. (See Rings of Corruption in Peru, by César R. Nureña and Federico Helfgott, North American Congress on Latin America, June 27, 2019.)

Some of the corruption allegations extended to another former president, Alejandro Toledo, and his wife, Eliane Karp-Toledo. She used her position during her husband’s administration to advocate for the protection of Peru’s unique and extensive cultural heritage before allegedly accepting bribes and misappropriating funds intended for the Commission for Andean and Amazonian Peoples. Karp-Toledo left Peru just before the end of her husband’s term, around the same time a number of valuable historic items — pre-Columbian artifacts and mummies — disappeared from the presidential residence. (See Don’t cry for me, Peru, by Beatriz Uberland, Ynet News, Oct. 22, 2006.)

Recently, Karp-Toledo landed in the news again because of an official request issued by Peru to the U.S. to extradite her in connection with ongoing corruption investigations related to her husband’s administration. This came months after she was dragged, screaming obscenities, out of a California court room where a judge deemed her husband a flight risk and denied him bail. (See Caso Ecoteva: Extradición de esposa de Toledo fue aprobada en primera instancia, La Republica, Dec. 11, 2019, and Peru ex-president denied bail in U.S., wife dragged from court after outburst, by Alexandria Sage, Reuters, Sept. 12, 2019.)

The series of scandals and political volatility affects more than just efforts to combat official corruption in Peru. “I think the impact is enormous because if there is no tone at the top, anti-fraud efforts are hardly going to prosper, as their success is dependent on the support they get from president down to the citizenship,” says Pazos.

Peru’s new leadership will have a chance to break the cycle of corruption scandals impeding anti-fraud efforts in the country, and Pazos remains hopeful. “Even if the current situation doesn’t seem very promising, I choose to be optimistic that things will improve in the fight against fraud,” Pazos says. “I say this not only because of technology enabling changes — for example, companies have lost profitability or even have gone out of business after their fraud or corruption issues spread on social media — or through protests on the streets but because millennials, who are becoming more and more relevant as part of the workforce, seem to be more passionate about social causes, and this results in making a positive contribution toward the development of an anti-fraud culture,” says Pazos.

An energized anti-fraud culture and increased enforcement of existing legal frameworks, such as the cultural patrimony laws that prevent looting, might not eliminate the trade in low-end artifacts, but they could deter the damage to the region’s incredible cultural heritage caused by stealing and altering antiquities.

“For some of us that’s really important. Every time you loot a pot, it’s not the pot, it’s all the context in which the pot is found; that’s where you learn the most about the ancient peoples,” Stanish says.

Mason Wilder, CFE, is a research specialist with the ACFE. Contact him at mwilder@ACFE.com.