EBAY SCAMMER over $200k : TPQCOLLECT

kalch23 · February 1, 2015 4:57AM

Just wanted to start a thread for people who got taken but this shyster.

For those of you who aren't aware, the ebay user TPQCOLLECT, with over 1700 feedback (100% positive before scam), listed hundreds of thousands of dollars in coins for no reserve auction on ebay using stolen photos from Heritage and elsewhere. After delaying shipment for around 7-10 days with various excuses, he proceeded to send photographs of the coins instead of the coins themselves. I'm not exactly sure how much money he got away with but I will say that I got taken for over $20,000 myself on multiple lots and my guess is the total is in the $200,000 - $300,000 range. He had been a seller of coins in the $20 - $2000 range in the past (with 100% feedback) but given that these items were also listed in the category of "art - posters" I'm sure if he gets arrested he will try to claim he was just selling posters….

This will hopefully be covered by eBay's money back guarantee but I wanted to start a thread for others who also got taken so we can share our experiences and updates with any news.

Here's a link to one of his items I won:

Morgan Dollar

Here's his ebay feedback now:

TPQCOLLECT

ricko · February 1, 2015 5:01AM

Wow.... incredible....what a shyster... Cheers, RickO

DennisH · February 1, 2015 5:03AM

I hope they catch this scumbag!

scubafuel · February 1, 2015 5:05AM

Wow! How did you all find these in the Art-Posters section to bid on them?

TomB · February 1, 2015 5:06AM

At the very bottom of the long verbiage, they write that it is a poster approximately 21 centimeters by 30 centimeters in size.

TomB · February 1, 2015 5:09AM

At the very bottom of the long verbiage, they write that it is a poster approximately 21 centimeters by 30 centimeters in size.

coinlieutenant · February 1, 2015 5:18AM

That is sickening...

Bigbuck1975 · February 1, 2015 5:23AM

I guess we learn that we need to actually read the description of the item being sold.

I would bet he will claim that he was selling a poster all along!

buffnut · February 1, 2015 5:23AM

Yup- scum scum scum. Here is the verbiage from the Morgan Dollar link:

"Terms and Conditions of the Sale.By placing a bid on any lot offered by topq,inc., the bidder indicates acceptance of the following terms of sale; These conditions of sale constitute a binding agreement between the bidder and topq,inc. The following terms and conditions constitute the sole terms and conditions under whichtopq,inc will offer for sale and sell the services and/or prints,other property.We do not ship internationally.Paypal is the prefered method of payment. Please note that topq,inc reserves the right to reject a bid from the bidder who has had two unpaid item notification in the past three months and/or low feedback score.The poster sizes for the sale of this lot may vary,but approximately are two hundred ten millimeters on two hundred ninety seven millimeters.Topq,inc does not accepts no liability for any delay and/or failure in executing bids,or any errors contained in bids due to internet nature.Purchases must be paid in full within five days of the end of the auction.Sales tax will be chargedunless the item is being shipped out of state,or the buyer provides a current state exemption form.We combine multiple lots."

Lakesammman · February 1, 2015 5:24AM

Wow - that's going to be a tough one to arbitrate......

kalch23 · February 1, 2015 5:29AM

<< Wow - that's going to be a tough one to arbitrate...... >>

Given that I'm sure he does not own the coins he listed, he does not own the rights to make reproductions posters of those coins for commercial sale..

I really don't think he has a legal foot to stand on here.

morgansforever · February 1, 2015 5:30AM

Very deceptive/criminal, but from a legal standpoint he may win the argument unfortunately. kalch23, I wish you the best of luck recovering your funds.

ctf_error_coins · February 1, 2015 5:37AM

You can not sell posters of photos that you do not have the copyright for.

I am sure he does not own the copyright so he is breaking the law selling the photos.

Davideo · February 1, 2015 5:40AM

<< Very deceptive/criminal, but from a legal standpoint he may win the argument unfortunately. kalch23, I wish you the best of luck recovering your funds. >>

Also, fraud does not need to technically include a lie, it could just be very deceptive like you stated.

Wolf359 · February 1, 2015 5:53AM

You can only sell actual Morgan dollars in the Morgan dollar category. His listings are all fraudulent, therefore hopefully, invalid and if not the scumbag, then Paypal or eBay will be forced to return the money.

But someone needs to visit his house and break his face. A couple of times. A few weeks in the hospital might be in order.

GRANDAM · February 1, 2015 5:53AM

If you want to block this guy you need to spell it in lower case,,,,, not upper case.

GrandAm

Hmann · February 1, 2015 5:56AM

Just another reason to never buy from ebay. I don't have an account there and never will!

Coppercolor · February 1, 2015 5:58AM

Each listing is catalogued under both:

Art>Art from Dealers & Resellers>Posters

and

Coins & Paper Money>Coins: US>Other

His title indicates a coin for sale, no mention of a poster

(Edited for Accuracy)

kalch23 · February 1, 2015 6:01AM

Here are some links to some of the other "posters" I won:

Link

Link

Link

Link

Link

Link

Link

Link

Link

Link

Tallpaul000 · February 1, 2015 6:02AM

Guess Ill get my photo monday, as I was out this saturday when the package arrived. I won a 29D walker from him, but I checked the pcgs cert (19427953) before purchase and saw the heritage sale it came from, so I bid close to that 2012 price. Seller also had all positive feedbacks. I was leery of the private listing, but have bought from other sellers before with no problems. The walker was listed under art posters and walkers, and said the following at the end of the very long description:

The following terms and conditions constitute the soleterms and conditions under whichtopq,inc will offer for sale and sell the services and/or prints,other property.We do not ship internationally.Paypal is the prefered method of payment. Please note that topq,inc reserves the right to reject a bid from the bidder who has had two unpaid item notification in the past three months and/or low feedback score.Topq,inc does not accepts no liability for any delay and/or failure in executing bids,or any errors contained in bids due to internet nature.The size of the images(depicted)for the sale of this lot may vary,but approximately are two hundred ten millimeters on two hundred ninety seven millimeters. Purchases must be paid in full within five days of the end of the auction.Sales tax will be charged unless the item is being shipped out of state,or the buyer provides a current state exemption form.We always combine multiple lots to save you on shipping.

I also saved the original listing as a webpage and its represented as a regular coin listing, no ambiguity there. I have no doubt that ebay will refund all these purchases.

Maybe it was the frosty the snowman pic that got me….

puffer · February 1, 2015 6:07AM

Also a link to the sold listings: Text

messydesk · February 1, 2015 6:11AM

Let the copyright holders for these images (if you can determine them) know about the auctions, so they can come down on this tool like a ton of bricks.

Tallpaul000 · February 1, 2015 6:19AM

posted twice, sorry

bluelobster · February 1, 2015 6:28AM

That is absolutely the lowest of the low, either that or a hacked account, especially after he sold actual quality coins. Usually these scams aren't involving that much money. I hope you have swift recourse, I'm sure the perp thinks they are smarter than they are. If this link is correct, it sounds like Ebay should take care of you.

Ebay picture scam

puffer · February 1, 2015 6:30AM

Fraud nullifies all contracts even if it is "constructive" fraud which no one in their right mind would accept. i.e. if you agree to become someone's slave or some other extortion agreement, it would naturally be nullified by state and federal laws.

Raufus · February 1, 2015 6:31AM

When you think that you've seen it all. Unreal. What scum!! Should be prosecuted.

Type2 · February 1, 2015 6:46AM

I will try any thing.

Item not as described in the listing, Money Back Guarantee. This sucks...

COALPORTER · February 1, 2015 6:53AM

If this is true you should be telling the police and the post office and not us.

How did this seller get around eBay's sellers limits ? I wouldn't be allowed to list this much at once.

What did paypal say about this. I would think they would put a hold on the money because you always
have 60 days to get your money back (doesn't matter what you type in your auction rules)

epcjimi1 · February 1, 2015 6:57AM

HTF does a seller rack up a boatload of negs in a month on ebay and not get the account stopped by "buyer and seller" protection services + policy.

Holy Chit.

silverpop · February 1, 2015 7:02AM

gee

just another reason not to use SCAM-BAY too many scammers on that site

yellowkid · February 1, 2015 7:02AM

Didn't any alarms go off for you when he didn't list any condition report or description of the piece, and it was listed in a non coin category? I mean this is fraud, but you should have done a little more due diligence. I sometimes buy on eBay without reading all the description, but when I spend "real" money I pay more attention.

ed. for spelling

ms70 · February 1, 2015 7:04AM

I'll bet he was planning on bowing out of eBay, did this, got his funds, closed the bank account, and closed shop.

TopographicOceans · February 1, 2015 7:21AM

His only play now is to leave the country.

He was probably funding his retirement account first.

Nap · February 1, 2015 7:27AM

Pretty miserable.

Could be a hacked account, but given that he's otherwise a fairly active seller it's probably him that did this.

Schultz24 · February 1, 2015 7:50AM

Um yea, remember that 1882-O $10 gold i said i bought about a week ago.....yep, still waiting. Didn't even get the pictures. No reply, no coin, no pictures. Luckily I lost a few others i bid on, but hopefully we can all get a refund based on fraud, no item, not as described, etc... I also disputed the purchase on my CC so be sure to do that as well. The 'bay wont let me file a claim yet based on not recieved since the listing says it could arrie by the 5th. Everyone please keep the group informed on what they hear from their claims.

grote15 · February 1, 2015 7:54AM

This reminds me of a Judge Judy episode where Judy tore into a defendant for sending a picture of the item instead of the item itself.

I hope they catch this dirtbag and that he suffers greatly.

Timbuk3 · February 1, 2015 8:24AM

That's so messed up. They should hang
that bas___ !!!

earlycoins · February 1, 2015 8:36AM

Hopefully, eBay sees fit to come down on the right side of this situation.

Please keep the forum in the loop.

planetsteve · February 1, 2015 8:39AM

I'm no lawyer, but I would think that Heritage owns the copyright on their images. I don't suppose that they registered these copyrights, and that might be the least of the seller's legal challenges, but Heritage should be contacted about the unauthorized use and sale of their images.

I'm sorry for those of you that are going through all this grief right now. Hope you're made whole!

CoinZip · February 1, 2015 8:42AM

coinguy1989 · February 1, 2015 8:51AM

Both mail and wire fraud are federal crimes. I suggest that you contact your local FBI office, and provide all of the documentation that you have. I also don't know what eBay's IP address retention policy is, but I would contact them and inform them of the fraud with instructions to preserve records of his IP address and other identifying information that might be useful to authorities.

puffer · February 1, 2015 9:06AM

What town is this joker from?

bestday · February 1, 2015 9:07AM

<< If eBay drags their feet, I would talk to my CC company... assuming you paid with a CC. >>

Always pay with a CC on ebay...... Ebay on the hook for this crook .. coins are advertised , auctioned , paid for .. not delivered......... open and closed book

puffer · February 1, 2015 10:57AM

There was a thread on ebay's forums on this scammer that was deleted.

kalch23 · February 1, 2015 11:08AM

they deleted a thread on ebay about this?? wow.

philographer · February 1, 2015 11:15AM

"Topq,inc does not accepts no liability"

Double negative. So I guess they do accept liability!

lostincoins · February 1, 2015 11:20AM

If he were to do it near right he would have used images of coins that he may have sod or auctioned in the past then he could have a better leg to stand on. This is crazy but his ad does state that they are posters and even gives dimensions. I am not saying this is right but it is dam creative and looks like it caught a good number of people sleeping. I always read the entire listing as wording can be very creative and what is written is what is "LAW" on the bay and in legal matters when on appeal. This guy very well may own the images and I wonder if he changed the images enough if that would constitute creative licence issues like with innovation patents.

I could see some one doing this if they just found out they are going to die and are going out in a blaze of glory!!!!

puffer · February 1, 2015 11:43AM

<< they deleted a thread on ebay about this?? wow. >>

I asked them why they were deleting threads on this scam and this was their response:

"In regards to your comments "Ebay needs to adress this $200K plus scammer quickly! You should have multiple threads discussing the issue and offering options for scammed buyers."
- this is just to let you know that you have reached the eBay Discussion Boards Moderation Team and this is the ONLY area that we deal with.

"I suggest that you contact eBay via their Customer Support page here http://ocsnext.ebay.com/ocs/cuhome"

messydesk · February 1, 2015 12:21PM

<< "Topq,inc does not accepts no liability"

Double negative. So I guess they do accept liability! >>

May as well say they don't accepts no guilty verdict, either. Doesn't matter.

EBAY SCAMMER over $200k : TPQCOLLECT

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