Banksy Pieces, Lost After Shady Deal, Recovered

Art purchased with unauthorized credit cards has been found in London

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PA Wire/ Press Association Images / AP Photo

An original Banksy artwork entitled 'Wrong War' (left) and a signed Banksy print of 'No Ball Games' (right) which were recovered by police in Greenwich.

The work of art is called “Wrong War” but the story’s one of  “wrong payment”:  two pieces by the artist Banksy, purchased in January for nearly £13,000, were recently recovered after the cards used to pay for them were discovered to have been used improperly. According to the BBC, the dealer who sold the art—”Wrong War” and a signed print—was notified by the bank involved that the cards had been used without authorization, which meant that the money would be refunded to the proper cardholders. The dealer was left in the lurch and the art lost, until the suspect tried to make another purchase from the dealer, leading police to arrest him for suspected fraud—and recover the art—in London on Feb. 8.

(MORE: Art Robbers Ditch Their Most Valuable Stolen Painting)

It’s not the first time that Banksy, the notorious graffiti artist, has been involved in a fraud case. In 2010, as the Daily Mail reported at the time, a series of Banksy prints sold on eBay were revealed to be forgeries. A similar fraud episode also took place in 2007.