Posted By:
Louis BollmanAbout 5 years ago I was on my way to Ft. Washington from Chicago. I had three purchasing appointments on the way so I drove. After being in my car a few minutes I realized that the navigation system on my overpriced SUV was malfunctioning. Being a very GPS navigation dependant kind of guy, I pulled into the dealership that I purchased the vehicle from; it took about 15 minutes to fix the problem then I was on my way to Detroit for two purchases and then to Ohio for the third appointment.
After unpacking at Ft. Washington I realized that I was missing two cards that I was reasonably certain that I packed. Both cards were consigned, a 1915 Cracker Jack Matty PSA MINT 9 and a 1957 Topps Spahn PSA GEM MINT 10 (total value on the two $40,000-$50,000).
When I got home from the trip I couldn't find the two cards but I still wasn't as worried as I should have been. I had stuff in my safe deposit, some things at my new office that I was moving to, and other things packed in preparation of my move. Beyond that, I had a very expensive insurance policy.
The cards never showed up after the move so I contacted my insurance company and they told me that without a police report they wouldn't pay. When contacted a few police departments in towns that I stopped along the way I was informed that I could find myself in bigger trouble if I filed a police report based on a hunch, unless I was certain that the cards were taken in their jurisdictions I could have legal issues for filing a "false" police report.
I was just s@#t out of luck!! I paid the consignor out of my own pocket. At the time he was unhappy because I had to make a few monthly payments. In the meantime word of the incident spread around the high-grade / graded card community that it was most likely that I stole the cards myself and sold them in a private deal. Needless to say, my reputation took a beating. Some of my dealer "friends" (that I'd known for years) pounced on the rumor. Even many of my best customers avoided me like the plague and transmitted the rumors about me without ever calling me so that I could tell them the straight story.
Fast forward two years...It was Thanksgiving night, our guests were gone, the dishes were done and I was pretty hyped up because I was leaving the next day to buy a massive deal (complete runs, all brands and sports, of sets from 1933 to 1975). I was up late sniffing around Ebay and low and behold the 1915 Cracker Jack Matty had been listed on Ebay. Obviously I didn't get a wink of sleep for the rest of the night. The next morning I still had to go get the collection that I'd been working on for the better part of a year. A close friend (a computer genius) of mine was able to do all kinds of intricate searches with nothing more to go on than the guy's Ebay user id. My friend was able to identify the person and (this is the scary part) his work history. The thief and would-be Ebay seller worked at the dealership that I took my car to have the GPS fixed. Keep in mind, the dealership was about 10 minutes from my house and I had, over the years, spent about $250k there. The dealership would not speak to me concerning the issue; I couldn't even get the attention of the law (local police or FBI). The police told me point blank "It's not like someone was hurt or killed, they're just Baseball cards". Even Ebay's fraud division wanted nothing to do with it; at the time I was a "Powerseller" that got regular phone calls from my Ebay representative; How's everything going? , How can Ebay better serve you? What improvements would you like to see, and (this is the funny...well not so funny given the situation) If there is anything we (Ebay) can do to help just let us know.....Ebay completely turned their backs on the situation, they wouldn't even pull down the listing!
Lucky for me there was a female officer who had just been promoted to detective, in the precinct that the car dealership was in, but was about a week to 10 days from taking maternity leave. The precinct didn't want to put her on any cases, even mine, that could stretch into her leave. I was spending a minimum of 1-2 hours a day at the precinct pleading my case, just trying to get someone to take notice, and one day the newly crowned female detective just happened to be walking by while I was explaining, for about the 50th time, and she took it on as her personal project.
To make a long story a little less long, less than a week later I had the cards back in my grubby hands. Even after all of this, I still could not get anyone to take legal action against the guy (police, FBI, or Ebay's fraud division; I'm sure they would have more pull with the FBI than me) nobody cared......again, their words not mine, they're just baseball cards.
The most irritating thing about the whole issue wasn't the stance that the police, FBI, Ebay, or even the dealership that the theft took place at it's that even now, years after the fact, only one person in the hobby that had something negative to say about me regarding the situation has apologized to me for talking trash without asking me about the whole thing.
Granted, most of this little story has nothing to do with, what I consider, the great leaps forward that law enforcement has taken on Ebay/internet crimes (the subject of this thread). However, when I saw this thread the whole grim story of the hassles I went through trying to get the law to take a stance came flooding back. I'm not a lawyer, I don't even play one on TV, so being stifled during the span of time of first seeing the card on Ebay until I had it back in my hand was one of the most stressful times of my adult life.
A little more beat up but still kicking,
Louis
03-06-2008, 06:56 AM
An ebay thief who got caught
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