An exclusive KIRO Team 7 Investigation uncovers a sleazy enterprise --the widespread sale of fake Seattle Mariners baseball memorabilia.

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Video: Questionable Dealers; Fake Merchandise

The FBI estimates fans waste more than $100 million a year nationwide on counterfeit autographs.

Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne reveals how questionable dealers operate so you can keep your hard-earned cash in your pocket.

Do I have a deal for you: a signed Ichiro baseball, 250 bucks.

MORE ON THIS STORY FBI Memorabilia Buying Guidelines Authentic Merchandise (including Ichiro Suzuki items) To report fraudulent sports memorabilia activities Professional Sports Authentication for a fee Major League Baseball Hologram Identification

It's a pretty good fake; I know what his real autograph looks like. If I could pawn this off as "authentic," I'd make a great profit and commit a felony. Tonight, we go undercover to expose an industry corrupted by counterfeiting and fraud.

Safeco Field in the summer: Eager young baseball fans hover near the dugouts, hoping to get the free memento of a lifetime.

Others Mariners fanatics, like Brenda Smiles, have to pay to get their autographs, usually from a professional sports memorabilia collector.

"I was cherishing the memorabilia I had and I was saving it for my granddaughter," Smiles said.

Brenda loves superstar right-fielder Ichiro Suzuki and started collecting dozens of signed bats, balls and pictures of him several years ago. A Muzuno slugger was her prized possession.

Smiles: "I was told Ichiro used that bat at the 2001 All-Star Game, then signed it after the game. I was pretty proud to own that one."
Halsne: "And now?"
Smiles: "Now, just disappointment, just disappointment."

That's because KIRO Team 7 Investigators found the bat to be a forgery, along with most all of the other signed Mariners items in Brenda's collection.

"It's not worth the paper it's written on. The balls aren't worth anything, except for maybe a small child to go bat around the yard."

Bret Boone: "No."
Halsne: "Not yours?"
Boone: "Definitely not.

At our request, several players, including second basemen Bret Boone, agreed to verify their autographs.

Boone: "Definitely not."
Chris: "Not yours either?"
Boone: "Correct, definitely not. I can tell you already on that one -- 100 percent no."

KIRO Team 7 Investigators also had help from Ichiro's agent, Tony Attanasio. He says this black bat carrying Ichiro's signature is "absolutely fake," along with most of the other memorabilia we showed him.

"The biggest problem is from the fans' perspective. They're buying something that doesn't have the true value," Attanasio said.

"I'd be like buying a used car, spend 'x' thousand dollars on the car, only to find out it has no engine but it looks good."

Matt Bingham is a self-proclaimed autograph seeker and memorabilia salesman. He says his industry is so corrupt, it's tough to trust anyone -- tough to tell real from counterfeit.

"There's a lot of stuff out there that's fake. I mean there is. They're even people who get real stuff and hang onto it for themselves and go out and fake other stuff," Bingham said.

We didn't just pick Bingham at random to get his insight on the sports memorabilia market. Brenda says, in a criminal complaint, that Bingham is the one who sold her the fake Ichiro balls, bats, and posters that cover her apartment walls.

Matt denies it.

"I absolutely never sold her anything. She always wanted stuff. She couldn't afford anything I had. She didn't want to pay the 100 dollars for an Ichiro ball," Bingham said.

But KIRO Team 7 Investigators spoke with four witnesses who will testify Bingham dealt Mariners memorabilia to Brenda and others, like Bibi Martinez.

"It looks legit to me," she said. "I never questioned it."

Bingham gave her an Ichiro signed bat that authentication experts tell us is a phony.

Fake sports memorabilia is so widespread the FBI set up an entire task force, dubbed Operation Bullpen, to catch dealers.

"Sooner or later, the lies they come up with -- they're going to get caught in," said Tim Fitzsimmons, agent in charge.

Fitzsimmons says he can't comment specifically on Matt Bingham because it could interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation.

Bingham says he knows law enforcement is watching him. He says, he's not worried. The clients complaining about him are wrong.

"I just tell 'em 'Come on down to the stadium and see me work my angles,'" he said. "They're people here who will vouch for me."

The King County Sheriff's white collar crime division has opened a criminal investigation into Matt Bingham's activities based on Brenda's complaint. We'll let you know how this all works out.