FAKE packs and an FBI Fraud Investigation: What would YOU do?

[Goodsport40]

So has Jose ever explained this whole thing as requested?

If so I missed the explanation.

[MBMiller25]

f you want to see the next generation of card buyers in action, go to blowoutcards.com and spend a week or two there. There are tons of kids, and I do mean kids, doing B/S/T on modern. None of those kids post here because they don't have interests in Tobacco-era now, but as those mostly teenage and 20-something collectors advance, some will develop interests in vintage as well. The avenues of trade have changed for sure, but collecting is not dying.

Maybe it isn't, but I can only speak for myself when I say, I have sold almost $100,000 in collectibles since October of last year, due the fraud and corruptness in this hobby and outside of ripping my own wax packs and maybe buying Mint 80's rookies that brought me joy as a kid (who would Dr. $10 cards?) I am done with this hobby. No more week long National trips, no more going to card shows, no more of my money being circulated within the industry. I was never a heavy weight, and don't want to come off as being some high roller, but I did contribute a lot of money annually into this hobby. I used to own some difficult high graded post war cards, and that's all over. So say what you want about collecting not dying, but the hobby is nowhere near healthy enough to absorb collectors leaving the hobby, due to the corruptness that exists everywhere. There are some great people in this hobby, but there is also a bunch of scum (my word), that operate as Promotors, 3rd party graders, Auction Houses, Dealers, EBAY Consignors, etc, that allow their greed to potentially jeopardize a long standing hobby, and great memories for many of us. For that I say KARMA is a Bitch!

Jose, As someone that purchased 5 or so graded packs from you, I find no humor in what you did, nor do I view you a hero, irregardless whether I bought fake packs or not.

Originally Posted by MBMiller25

Maybe it isn't, but I can only speak for myself when I say, I have sold almost $100,000 in collectibles since October of last year, due the fraud and corruptness in this hobby and outside of ripping my own wax packs and maybe buying PSA 9 80's rookies that brought me joy as a kid (who would Dr. $10 cards?) I am done with this hobby. No more week long National trips, no more going to card shows, no more of my money being circulated within the industry. I was never a heavy weight, and don't want to come off as being some high roller, but I did contribute a lot of money annually into this hobby. I used to own some difficult high graded post war cards, and that's all over. So say what you want about collecting not dying, but the hobby is nowhere near healthy enough to absorb collectors leaving the hobby, due to the corruptness that exists everywhere. There are some great people in this hobby, but there is also a bunch of scum (my word), that operate as Promotors, 3rd party graders, Auction Houses, Dealers, EBAY Consignors, etc, that allow their greed to potentially jeopardize a long standing hobby, and great memories for many of us. For that I say KARMA is a Bitch!

Jose, As someone that purchased 5 or so graded packs from you, I find no humor in what you did, nor do I view you a hero, irregardless whether I bought fake packs or not.

Corruption is just a fact of life, as is greed and fraud. That's why it's important for the people who are a credit to the hobby to stand their ground and fight back.

People will fall on both sides of the conflict, and it's sad to see Matt go.

Maybe Matt, and others, will find inspiration to come back when they see those who do bad be held accountable for their actions.

[HRBAKER]

Corruption is a fact of life, but IMO this hobby seems to attract a disproportionate amount of people who are allergic to an honest day's work.

[CharleyBrown]

Corruption has been a part of this hobby for a very long time... in different forms, no doubt, but it has always been here - just as it’s been a part of sports.

It seems as if its a disproportionate because the hobby is a strong focus of our lives. Many of has have a lot vested in it in terms of $, time, and passion, so naturally everything seems greater than it is.

As a teacher, I can tell you that the education system is equally corrupt..

I’m sure other hobbies deal with the same.

If corruption is driving u out, maybe u were in too deep with the hobby to begin with...

Spend time with family, and do other things that don’t involve the hobby.

Matt, to be honest - I think this hobby still means something to you, as you’re still here posting after having sold off much of your collection.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by HRBAKER

Corruption is a fact of life, but IMO this hobby seems to attract a disproportionate amount of people who are allergic to an honest day's work.

+1...well met, Jeff.

[deadballfreaK]

Wow. As a pretty new member to this board I had never read any of this. First thing that comes to my mind is I always considered unopened packs the easiest thing in the world to fake. Especially wax packs. A little heat and you could open and close em at will. Don't know much about cellos, beyond my time as a collector, but I expect they could be opened and closed and easily faked as well.

[MBMiller25]

FBI investigation concluded
The FBI investigation is over after going through my data on how some stars
shouldn't be on top of certain packs and taking a close look and examining packs that i passed by PSA, the agents agreed that they were pretty bad jobs
in my part and they were surprised they got authenticated and in fact graded
one of the agents went on to say that i proved that Steve Hart
is bad at his job and being bad at his job is not a crime.

The downfall of this world will be the lack of morality in men!

It's amazing to me how this goes from you creating FAKE cello packs, to a "Steve Hart" doesn't know how to do his job. Steve is probably the most honest individual in a hobby that's littered with filth and fraud, and you come on here and frankly go out of your way to make a statement like you have above about Steve not be good at his job. The fact that your trying to play this out like you're some sort of crusader makes me want to puke.

[WhenItWasAHobby]

Originally Posted by MBMiller25

Maybe it isn't, but I can only speak for myself when I say, I have sold almost $100,000 in collectibles since October of last year, due the fraud and corruptness in this hobby and outside of ripping my own wax packs and maybe buying Mint 80's rookies that brought me joy as a kid (who would Dr. $10 cards?) I am done with this hobby. No more week long National trips, no more going to card shows, no more of my money being circulated within the industry. I was never a heavy weight, and don't want to come off as being some high roller, but I did contribute a lot of money annually into this hobby. I used to own some difficult high graded post war cards, and that's all over. So say what you want about collecting not dying, but the hobby is nowhere near healthy enough to absorb collectors leaving the hobby, due to the corruptness that exists everywhere. There are some great people in this hobby, but there is also a bunch of scum (my word), that operate as Promotors, 3rd party graders, Auction Houses, Dealers, EBAY Consignors, etc, that allow their greed to potentially jeopardize a long standing hobby, and great memories for many of us. For that I say KARMA is a Bitch!

Jose, As someone that purchased 5 or so graded packs from you, I find no humor in what you did, nor do I view you a hero, irregardless whether I bought fake packs or not.

Ditto for me. I'm not completely out of the hobby, but I'm spending about 3% of what I did when I was extremely active in the PSA registry. The pervasive corruption in this hobby is staggering.

I have nothing good or bad to say about Jose since there isn't clear, concise understanding about what has happened.