Over the last couple of years, I have been covering a lot of different scams that have been a scab on the face of this hobby. The biggest of the scams were the rise of fake rookie premiere autographs, most prevalent in Topps’ 2007 set. Since that time, most of the people who were uneducated on this have become relatively educated, and even Topps has started serially numbering the cards. Well, since they dont sell as well anymore, one of the ass masters of douchebaggery has decided to branch out.
Recently, a flood of fake Adrian Peterson sticker autos has hit eBay and the signatures, while convincing to the uneducated, are exactly the same as a lot of the fake rookie premiere autos. In addition, its pretty easy to see that many of the cards this fucktard has created are not meant to be autographs, and a scan of the back would easily show they dont have the certified auto language.
Here is what I am talking about (ALL ARE FAKE):
2009 Gridiron Gear Adrian Peterson Fake Auto Patch
2008 Threads Adrian Peterson Fake Auto Dual Jersey
2008 National Treasures Adrian Peterson Fake Jersey Auto
AND NOW THE COMPARISON TO THE FAKE ROOKIE PREMIERE:
2007 Adrian Peterson Fake Rookie Premiere Auto
The business plan was most likely to buy a bunch of Panini cards that eventually had autograph parallels, and use torn off stickers from scrub autos to get a forged auto onto a non-auto card. This is one of the many disadvantages of Panini creating cards with millions of parallels that all look alike. Basically, the jersey parallels look exactly the same as the auto parallels without the sticker, and thus, the language on the back and serial number are the only things that change.
Much to my dismay, there are so few collectors out there that would be able to tell the difference between a fake and a legit auto, that there isnt really a place to start. As always I will offer my services, but the main thing is to check seller history before buying in order to prevent the purchase of fakes. The rule has always been, “if its too good to be true, it probably is.”
Beckett, as disconnected as they are, is never going to take a stand on these cards, so be sure to become educators on your own fronts.
Just sent two of those eBayers a message asking for a scan of the back of the card. Think I will hear back from them? Doubt it, but if and when I do, I will let you know here.
Thanks for these posts.
Peace.
UPDATE! The dude selling the National Treasures card just added a scan of the back of the card. No mention of the auto, just a blurb about the jersey.
Link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200625355850&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123#ht_568wt_932
Thanks for the good work. Fakes are a HUGE problem in our hobby. Every week people bring in eBay “good deals” that just don’t look right.
When buyers get burnt, they stop buying singles. When they stop buying singles, there are fewer people bidding on singles. When there are fewer people bidding on singles, box busters loose money. When box busters loose money, they stop busting boxes. When box busters stop busting boxes, TURN OFF THE LIGHTS. THE PARTY’S OVER.
Last week someone brought in about twenty (internet good deals) graded (by a third tier grading company) vintage cards (Ruth, Mantle, Aaron, Mays, Koufax and others) all graded 8 or higher. This new investor wanted me to appraise the cards for insurance purposes. When I told him they were all fakes, he turned white.
Keep up the good work.
I will never understand how so many people can and will get fooled by fake Peterson Autos. Anyone willing to spend 100 on a cars has to have been around long enough to know Peterson’s real signature is huge, sloppy and in my opinion hard to duplicate. These are obviously fake and well off the mark. Thanks for doing the research and spreading the word.
I reported him on Ebay for the 2008 NATIONAL TREASURES Auto as being a fraud, and I suggest others do the same. He was dumb enough to put a scan of the back of the card on the listing. It doesn’t mention anything about an auto, plus the beckett online checklist shows that the auto version should be numbered out of 25 and the jersey only version is out of 99, which this one is out of 99. I will give him that they look very real and unless you read the back and/or look at the checklist print run, you can be fooled. The bad thing is if he sells it to a reputable person and then you trade for it at a show where you might not pay enough attention because of all the distractions, then you are stuck with a fake!