Ebay Scam or Deal of the Century? You decide?

JimNJ

I enjoy reading the boards, and had to share this one with you. Did anyone see the one day Ebay auction of a 1940 Playball DiMaggio in PSA-8 with a Buy it Now option for $2500.00. I looked into bidding but found out that you had to email the seller to be pre-approved. I decided to play along and sent the email. The seller's ebay name is CLHALP55 with a listed address of Ocean Port N.J.
I worte to him and said I was also from N.J. and would drive over to his location and deliver $2500 cash for the card. Look at the response I got:

> Hello,
>
> Thank you for being interested about my items.
> Please email me your price offer. I'm sure we will
> find a solution.
>
> All my items are now located in one of my stores in
> Paris, France.
> You can see more of my items at: www.tonis-cards.com
>
> As shipping carrier i will use TNT Overland or
> Pegasus Cargo so you will receive the package in 2
> or 3 business days. The delivery will be
> door-to-door so you don't have to worry about any
> other delivery fees when the package will arrive in
> your country.
> As I told you in my first email, all taxes are
> included in the price.
>
> To protect my business I have adopted the following
> polices.
>
> Nobody forces you to accept it. If you don't agree,
> I believe it would be better that none of us lose
> his time for nothing.
>
> - I will send the items in advance and when you'll
> receive the tracking number from the carrier and you
> see that the package is moving I expect from you to
> send me the payment
> confirmation in max. 24 hours from that moment. In
> that way both of us will be protected.
> - As a payment method I have chosen Western Union's
> services because they always served our interests in
> a professional manner and helped me gain buyers. I
> consider promptitude a
> vital condition on the modern eCommerce markets and
> a guarantee of quality.
>
> If the terms and conditions above are suitable for
> you and you decide to purchase please email me back
> with your full name and address to prepare the
> package.
> After I have the shipping information's from you I
> will prepare the package and I will contact the
> carrier.
>
> Thank you again for your interest.
>
> I look forward to a favorable reply and just as soon
> as I receive it, I will send you my payment address.
>
> Regards.
>
> Antonio Maldini
> www.tonis-cards.com

O.K. maybe he's selling a 12 thousand dollar card for $2500, but not to me. Has anyone had any dealings with this guy. His feedback is unimpressive, mainly sells assorted trinkets and junk. Just wanted to pass on a heads-up to other collectors.


ALWAYS BUYING HIGH GRADE PSA 1940 PLAYBALLS, BUT NOT FROM FRANCE!!!!!!!

mikeschmidt

if you read/search on any of these forums - this scam is discussed in exhaustive detail

CON40

Stay away! Toni's Cards is one of the most villified scam artists on eBay... they have a website of all stolen scans and since they claim to be located in Europe (France and Italy I think) they are near immune to prosecution... I cannot tell you any more stroongly to stay away!

JonB

You should ask him to just ship the card to himself and then you could do the transaction in person. Although everyone here already knows he would have some excuse as to why he couldn't do that.

WinPitcher

sez: stay away!

JimNJ

Thanks to all for the information. Its difficult to keep track of all the con artists. I would have liked to have met him in Jersey.........if only to personally slap the cuffs on him. Thanks again for posts. Jim.nj

Pittfan

Jim, he says he will send the card before he gets the payment. Say you will buy it and check out the tracking number and see what will really happens. Make that scammer go through the trouble of shipping something off.

JonB

good idea pittfan... just wait till you receive the package to pay him... if its the real card, pay the man his money... if not, return whatever he sent you... if anything

Molson

I received the same message on some Hockey cards with a one day auction. PSA 9 Gretzky, PSA 10 Lemieux, and PSA 10 Yzerman. He has actually emailed me three times asking me if I want the cards. Different user name, but in follow up emails, references the same web site. Nice cards on the site though, I will give him credit for taking time to steal all the scans off ebay over the past three years. He is patient if nothing else. That cert # on the PSA 10 Yzerman card was sold on ebay for $1,850 about 2 years ago.

marty

Notify eBay that he is working outside their system. That should get him booted. There has been other threads about tonis-cards. stolen immages and his shipping company is not real.

Griffins

The tracking number is a scam- he uses a false company he set up named Pegasus shipping. He'll give you a number that you track on a sight- it will show the card as being shipped, then a few days later falls off the radar, after you've sent money.
The Net 54 board has a lot of info on this guy- I think they tracked him to Florida at one point.

iamthegreatcornholio

<< <i>Notify eBay that he is working outside their system. That should get him booted. There has been other threads about tonis-cards. stolen immages and his shipping company is not real. >>



Although this has been discussed extensively, I would like to reiterate that these are hijacked accounts! Simply getting an account booted does little to stop the problem – he will move on and hijack another. I’m not sure how he does it, but he must have some connection to finding old, dormant accounts with easily cracked passwords. Perhaps more proactive measures need to be taken like getting his real email address and sending him some "goodies".

Brian

RobBobGolf

Yup

I tried to buy a PSA 10 Walter Payton and received the same sort of response. And besides, France is our enemy, so no business with anyone in that country.

RobBob

bedardsavard18

Do you think that is his real potrait on his website. Just thinking about the location of his store. I doubt there is many French people walking into a sports card shop in France what a joke. What a slap in the face that none of us moron collectors fell for his half price scams. What a dufus. Gee if I try selling a 5000.00 dollar card for 2500.00 I am sure to sell it duhduh duhduh.

marz

<< <i>You should ask him to just ship the card to himself and then you could do the transaction in person. Although everyone here already knows he would have some excuse as to why he couldn't do that. >>



LOL_ excellent! the guy is well documented bottom feeding scum who steals images and money!

JrMacdaddy

<< <i>Ebay Scam or Deal of the Century >>



How about scam of the century.