Hmmm...Any comments on this '69 Topps Aaron PSA 10?

dude · July 7, 2004 10:37PM

This auction bothers me a lot although I have no evidence to prove it's a scam. A one day auction with pre-approved bidding with a Buy It Now that is probably half of it's market value. The guy's feedback has nothing to do with expensive sportscards. It's mostly buying cheap Dean Koontz books. This card once sold on Superior for $10,868 and recall MintXPress had it for a while too. The cert number is fine. I e-mailed the seller and haven't heard back. Any comments or clues to what is going on here? If this was a reputable dealer I would have it the Buy It Now instantly.

1969 Topps Hank Aaron PSA 10, one day eBay auction with $2,999 Buy It Now

Superior - $10,868.00

interchanges · July 7, 2004 11:34PM

No doubt about it, almost too good to be true. And one day auctions are always suspicious.

I also emailed him telling him I live near there so I could pick it up (that always gets'em scrambling)
Will let you know what he says.

CON40 · July 7, 2004 11:44PM

This looks VERY suspicious! The seller's feedback comes mostly from buying Dean Koontz paperbacks for $2 each... and it appears he has sold some paperbacks as well... nothing to indicate he'd be in the possession of a $10,000 baseball card (that he's selling for $3000), plus a 1948 Leaf Babe Ruth PSA 9 that has an SMR of $30,000 that he's selling for $5000...

Ther is defintiely something rotten in Denmark!

dude · July 7, 2004 11:48PM

A reputable dealer just contacted me and he seems to recall that a collector in New York currently owns the Aaron (unless it was just sold - which he doubts). It doesn't look good folks. Nothing back from the seller.

SoFLPhillyFan · July 7, 2004 11:58PM

Check this thread from the Vintage board.
Also a seller using the Superior auction listings.
Could be connected.

Magie

jrdolan · July 8, 2004 12:03AM

He's been an eBay member for 3 years. It's sad when suddenly they turn to a life of crime.

packCollector · July 8, 2004 12:11AM

didn't even look at the auction but from everything you described , it is a stolen ebay account.

here is how it works :
1.) steal the account info
2.) put up the listing with pre approved bidding
3.) collect all the emails asking to get pre approved
4.) don't reply and then contact everyone that inquired offering to sell the card at the buy it now

they will give some excuse like a computer failure or something why they didn't reply before the auction ended or may say nothing just offering the card.

SoFLPhillyFan · July 8, 2004 12:21AM

Sounds logical.

Probably a good example of someone who replied to a spoof e mail and provided their info. Both Ebay accounts are not very active.

You could probably sneak a 24 hour auction in without the account holder's knowledge.

CON40 · July 8, 2004 12:21AM

Could be connected.

Absolutely! Read that prose... I think packcollector is right... these are hijacked eBay accounts (probably by the same dung beetle) and he's running the same scam... can we email the eBay accounts to alert them?

Southsider · July 8, 2004 12:28AM

I was just going to say what packCollector said. It reeks of compromised eBay accounts.

SoFLPhillyFan · July 8, 2004 12:29AM

I did e-mail the Magie seller this morning asking why he/she would sell a card for 5K when it auctioned for 28K+ last year.

I guess it is possible to change the e-mail address if you have hijacked the account, so the fraudulent seller may get the messages.

No reply yet.

Keith

packCollector · July 8, 2004 12:43AM

do this email both accounts , email them again later asking another question. you will get the same form email for both auctions signed by the same name and you will get it multiple times for each email that you send.

these guys are not very smart. they did this a while back with a bunch of unopened boxes. i got an offer the next day from every email that I sent

CON40 · July 8, 2004 12:44AM

Keith;

I think you're right... they must hijack the email to make the approved bidder mechanism work... you'd have to bid on the item, then you could get access to the eBay account's personal info (if they don't hijack that too)... then you could reach the real account holder.

packCollector · July 8, 2004 1:28AM

last time these came up , i looked at an old listing and the guy had the info to send payment in his listing. i looked him up at verizon.com and called him. he was completely unaware his account was stolen.

Aaronman · July 8, 2004 4:19AM

The auction is not real so don't consider bidding on it. I am the owner of that card and I assure you it is not for sale (unless the seller got into my safe deposit box).

Stay away from this one,

Doug

dude · July 8, 2004 4:52AM

Doug,

Thanks for confirming. Needless to say, I'm not surprised.

Mitochondria · July 8, 2004 6:29AM

Dude,

Makes sense that is auction was not on the up and up. I looked at the BIN this morning and figured the card was at least $7000 below its current market value.

Ron

JonB · July 8, 2004 8:48AM

You would think if someone was going to scam on ebay, like this auction obviously is, that they would at least be smart enough to use a card that doesn't have a population of 1. Cards like that, that are worth over 10,000, can almost always be traced by anyone who would actually spend that kind of money for a card.

FB · July 8, 2004 9:27AM

So Doug...

when was the last time that you checked your safe deposit box?

Banks aren't as safe as they used to be!

Wabittwax · July 8, 2004 9:37AM

Doug, you would probably be the best person to contact the authorities on this if you would like to see this person taken down. If anybody else contacted them, it would need a more lengthy investigation, but you have solid proof of the scam in your possession.

ajw · July 8, 2004 9:56AM

Alright...I know it's a scam, but that really is a fantastic card. I'd love to see the colors in person.

helionaut · July 8, 2004 10:40AM

I emailed him this morning to be put on the bidder list for the Aaron card. I got this response at 7:49 PM, only an hour+ after the auction ended:

I SAW YOU ARE INTERESTED IN MY ITEMS:

1948 Leaf Babe Ruth #003 MINT 9
PRICE: US $4,999.99 (shipping and all taxes included)

1969 TOPPS HANK AARON PSA 10 GEM MINT
PRICE: US $2,999.99 (shipping and all taxes included)

Due to some personal problems I was unable to answer to your question and to put you in the preapproved list.

The cards are located in my store in London, UK. (www.tonis-cards.com)

IF YOU ARE STILL INTERESTED PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

REGARDS.

Antonio Maldini
www.tonis-cards.com

I'm glad his personal problems got resolved, but if there was any indication it was a Toni's Cards auction, I wouldn't have bothered. But if had had approved me, I would've won it for a penny

gemint · July 8, 2004 11:53AM

Wow, that's the same guy who had personal problems three months ago when I enquired about a handful of '74 wax boxes he was "auctioning". It's good to see that he can continue to locate and purchase tough to find collectibles and has the time to list all those auctions with his personal problems.

Here's hoping his next personal problem involves men wearing suits and badges.

ctsoxfan · July 8, 2004 1:52PM

<< <i>IF YOU ARE STILL INTERESTED PLEASE LET ME KNOW. >>

For what? What is he going to make up then? I agree with gemint.

SoFLPhillyFan · July 8, 2004 8:19PM

Bingo - here's the answer from the Magie seller also. Both from the same person as the Aaron.

I SAW YOU ARE INTERESTED IN MY ITEMS:

1952 TOPPS #312 JACKIE ROBINSON
PRICE: $2,999.99 (shipping and all taxes included)

1909 T206 Sherry Magee (Magie) NM 7
PRICE: $4,999.99 (shipping and all taxes included)

Due to some personal problems I was unable to answer to your question and to put you in the preapproved list.

The cards are located in my store in London, UK. (www.tonis-cards.com)

IF YOU ARE STILL INTERESTED PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

REGARDS.

Antonio Maldini
www.tonis-cards.com

ctsoxfan · July 9, 2004 12:07AM

What am I missing here about this "tonis-cards" site? I checked out the website, and he is showing a lot of nice cards on there, a few storefronts that look real, and prices on the cards that just don't add up.

For example, a 1969 Clemente PSA 10 for 550 Euros. I know nothing about the conversion of Euros to American dollars, but the currency converter on his site says that equals $681.00? What a deal!

Southsider · July 9, 2004 12:42AM

tonis-cards.com and several other similar web addresses (aka Toni Toscana?) have been used in past scams. I think the guy was located in Greece before.

I also believe that his "inventory" was stolen image for image from another site. Let me try a search, I know there have been other threads.

Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3

helionaut · July 9, 2004 1:17AM

In 1991 I spent a semester in London (great for my Anglophile side, not so great for my collector side since I had just reentered the card hobby that spring and had a serious wax pack withdrawal for 3 months). I am thinking about returning next year. I'll have to pay this guy a visit if I do. Not that any part of London is cheap, but the part of town he's in, I can't imagine the prices of even the most common stuff.

Actually, after looking at the storefront photos, I'm pretty sure they've been faked.

ctsoxfan · July 9, 2004 3:15AM

Ah, now I remember this scammer. I am surprised I forgot about him, but I never actually went to his website before. I bet more than a few people are duped by that...

Hmmm...Any comments on this '69 Topps Aaron PSA 10?

Comments