Does the Fake Patch Solution ALREADY EXIST?!?

When we look at the problems facing the hobby, one could easily cite Beckett, collecting tendencies, or lack of visual appeal in recent card designs as main problems. However, fakes and the prevelance of the fake patches in cards is definitely at or near the top of this list, without question. I have championed different ideas of how to combat fakes in this hobby, whether it’s a national photo database of the high end patch cards, or encasement of the hits, but I think one unexplored solution may already be the best deterrant around. To my personal humor, it actually comes into play because of sticker autos, and it has been done already in a prevelant Upper Deck hockey product of all places.

For UD Ice, a set that a lot of hockey collectors wait for every year, Upper Deck has found a way to virtually encapsulate the patches on a card due to the need to have a player's signature over the patch. A thin layer of acetate is placed over the swatch window to create a space to affix the sticker, thus creating an unfake-able card as well. If a douche wanted to fake one of these cards, they would need to remove the autograph some way, and I don’t think it would be hard to see if they did.



SO, this begs the question as to why this cant be used in a high end release like SPA, Exquisite or National Treasures to prevent the problems that have plagued the cards since their inception. Upper Deck cites that collectors want to get "closer to the game" by having the opportunity to touch the jersey swatches, but even I know that is code for "its too expensive." I think that if the companies want to gain some fans on this side of the computer screen, they better figure out a way to fit it into the budget. I would much rather have confidence that my logo patch is real than have the ability to molest the swatch surface. I think it would also be a great solution to getting rid of ugly sticker autos, instead having the player sign the acetate surface instead of a tiny sticker.

Because the acetate is clear, as well as hard enough to resist damage, it is the PERFECT solution to this massive problem when it becomes the front of the card. Its time that the companies step up and actually do their part instead of letting the fucktards run wild with the douchebaggery I cover on an almost daily basis.

In fact, here is a visual representation to show you what I mean:


(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

I am in the process to purchased a cheap version of one of the 05/06 Upper Deck Ice signature swatches to show to the readers of this site, and ill let you be the judge once I have it in hand.

h/t Mstng99tim on FCB

Fake Peterson Logo Back Up On Ebay

When 2009 Ultimate Football came out, I was very excited for a number of the cards in the set. None more so than the Ultimate Patch Auto cards, which were beyond awesome. The Adrian Peterson from the set was one of the cards I HAD to have from the product and I set out to buy one as soon as I could. The first one that was posted was a blurry picture but still good enough to bid on. Not willing to wait, I offered the guy almost 50% more than I expected the card to go for, but he wanted to let it go. Less than 3 hours later, another one showed up on ebay, this time with 3 color patches, to which I hit the BIN as quickly as I could. Funny enough, that price was less than I offered the first guy for his one and two color patches Peterson.

Moving forward in time, the person who ended up winning the Peterson I originally bid on wasn’t exactly the best of people. The card, number 6/10 was put back on eBay with two reebok logo patches and a shield logo tag patch, hiding the serial number and expecting people to not see what's up. Obviously, since I had been watching all the Ultimate Patch cards, this one set off red flags immediately. Eventually someone brought to my attention that this card was the one I had previously bid on, and it had been destroyed for nefarious purposes. Regardless of my proof, the card was sold for a lot of money, again to someone who didn’t take the time to do a simple google search.

Well, its back up on ebay, and this time, the person wants even more money than it sold for originally. Stay away, stay FAAAAAAR away.

EDIT: Looks like the card has been taken down and replaced with something else. Maybe the seller was notified it was fake and actually took it down like a good person should.

Its Rare That Fakes Generate This Kind Of Money

Fake patches have become sort of a good/bad situation these days. Obvious ones rarely generate much money, and the less obvious ones generate tons. Because of the way fake patches have been covered on the message boards, blogs and other non-mainstream hobby media, collectors have been able to avoid some of the pitfalls that once plagued them. However, based upon recent auction completions, im not so sure people are wising up as much as I thought they would.

Look at how much this fake Peyton Manning that I covered last week sold for. Check out this Tom Brady too. I cant believe this Favre hit the number it did. Those are HUGE prices, despite the fact that they are ridiculously fake. My favorite fake promoting company, PSA/DNA, seemed to think they were authentic enough to slab them, and that I just don’t understand. I explained that the presence of the Captain's patches alone should have been a tip off, but because the faker was skilled at creating these terrible cards, they passed it off. Inexcusable.

Guys, the reality of this situation is that our only line of defense is ourselves, and even a quick 2 second google search on these cards would have brought up the FCB AND Blowout thread where these fakes were outed. Ufjumper7 may be gone for the foreseeable future, but there is always someone else to take their place. Kevin Burge has been operating for as long as I can remember, and he is responsible for so many fakes that I cant even count them in an excel spread sheet. The list is that long.

Its one thing when the card generates 50 bucks or even 100 bucks, but when someone spends the cost of a month's rent on one of these horrid fakes, we have to start asking how they think it can be real. I know if I were about to drop that kind of money on a card that obviously has doubts as to authenticity, I would do everything in my power to rid myself of that doubt. Hell, I recently bought an autograph for 150 dollars and I spent close to an hour online comparing it, despite the presence of authenticity statements from "reputable" companies. That was 1/10th the cost of what this person paid.

The sad thing is that a lot of the people who buy the fakes, refuse to admit to themselves that they cant tell the difference. I have received no less than five emails from different scam victims explaining that they know better than I do, even in the face of obvious observation. How dare I call them uninformed for not being able to recognize they were being had. God forbid. Really, the problem is the attitude more than anything, and I mean no disrespect when I say that even the most hobby saavy person is at similar risk as the newbie is. Just because someone has been collecting for 30 years, does not mean they know their ass from their elbow in a lot of these cases. The reason I say this is because of how little the mainstream hobby resources have focused on fakes in general. You can go back through years and years of Becketts, Tuff Stuffs, and any other magazine, and there wont be much to reference from. So, I don’t fault the uninformed for being uninformed in that respect. What I do fault them for is not taking the time to research their purchases, something that should be a part of buying on the internet even outside of sports cards and memorabilia. A simple five second search through completed auctions or google would have saved this person a ton of money, and that is exactly why they have every reason to hate themselves for wasting that kind of money.

I may not be the one hitting the buy it now or the bid button, but I will not stop talking about this as long as SCU is up and running. Fakes are a epidemic that have garnered the attention of national law enforcement, and I think its good to have as much dialouge as possible.

NJD2525 Hits All The Douchebaggery High Notes

Its one thing to sell fake autos. Its another thing to sell fake patches. Its completely different when you do both and are absolutely fucking terrible at it. NJD2525 has been called out on Blowout, and after reviewing some of the ridiculous fakes he has for sale, I dont even know what to say. He makes Ufjumper look like Picasso. I swear to god. He is TURRABLE.

Lets review some of his wonderous creations:

Andre Iguodala NBA Logoman - The logomans from Timeless Treasures were 1/1s and their own set. Scouting the set FAIL.

Larry Bird Triple "Patch" Auto - Im actually surprised this card didnt end up with three logomen in the windows. He is that bad at doing this.

Rajon Rondo Tag Auto - Yeah, at this point, there isnt even a questionable tag I can put on any of these.

Albert Pujols "Auto" Card - If Albert Pujols even came within 100 miles of this card at any point, I will print out this post and eat it. So terrible.

Albert Pujols "Auto" Card #2 - Two Pujols autos? Wow, he must have had a private signing or something! WOW! Actually, he has like 10 up. Haha, nice.

LeBron James "auto" card - And he met Lebron too? Holy shit, this guy must be the coolest ever. I totally want to meet him so he can introduce me to all his player friends.

Michael Jordan "auto" card - Now you gotta be shittin' me. He met the GOAT? His Airness along with Pujols, LBJ, and all the others? Ah-mazing.

Guys, I seriously wonder how dumb you have to be to bid on stuff like this. Its not even funny. These are so bad that I believe my wife could tell the difference.Plus, when they only sell for 10 bucks a piece, you have to wonder.

Take One Out, Another Takes Its Place - Avoid khartinla4gnd AT ALL COSTS

Ufjumper may be out of the picture for right now, but that doesn’t mean that others arent in line to take his place. Over on FCB there is a debate over a few Triple Threads cards for sale by khartinla4gnd, mainly that these cards are worth spending astronomical amounts of money on, despite the questions of authenticity. Personally, even if I liked Triple Threads in the slightest, I wouldn’t touch any of them with someone else's ten foot pole.

Oddly enough, its not even the Reebok or NFL logos that send up the most obvious red flag on these cards, it’s the captains patches, and the fact that he has a few cards with similar swatches. Triple Threads has logos, and it has reebok logos, but I have never seen Captains patches before. It’s the one patch, you rarely see in any set, let alone in three cards from the same seller in the same brand.

Let me elaborate. The Captain's "C" patch was first used in 2007 for the teams who wanted to institute the system. The Manning, in particular is from 2008, which means that the jersey in the card would be less than one year old. Because of the way jerseys are stocked among the big three companies, I would guess they don’t use 2007 or 2008 issued uniforms in products from 2008. 2009 would not be out of the question to me, but definitely not 2008. But, for some people, that isnt enough of a red flag to not bid on the cards he is selling. Then, after seeing some of the other questionable cards he has for sale, I begin to wonder if they are fooling themselves into a false sense of security just because the card is a 1/1.

Here are the ones I am talking about:

Peyton Manning Triple Threads 1/1 - Three logos, and a nice touch with the sideways NFL logo. Still doesn’t fool me though. I say 100% fake.

Brett Favre Triple Threads 1/1 Again 3 logos and a captain's patch, again a 1/1, but still not fooling me. Plus, I don’t think Triple Threads often uses 3 separate logos on one card. Maybe one split into the two windows, but I have rarely ever seen 3 DIFFERENT logos.

Tom Brady Triple Threads 1/1 - Same type of card as the two above. I have the same reaction. 3 from the same seller? Cmon, that is a HUGE red flag.

Dwayne Wade Triple Threads 1/1 - Ok, now the story is taking shape. The guy finds out you can split the Triple Threads cards at the seam and switch out the patches, and decides to try it out on a few crappy cards. Then he moves on to cards like this one and the three above. I have a feeling that you get this card and see some damage along one of the sides.

Chris Paul Triple Threads 1/1 - This card was proven fake on Blowout, here is the thread, and once I saw this card on his store completed list, everything clicked.

Brett Favre Limited NFL Logo 3/10 - I know NFL logos exist in this set, but they are numbered 1/1. This is a questionable card at best. I say fake, but not 100% on this one.

Dan Marino Gridiron Gear /5 NFL Logo - This one is no doubt fake, I don’t even know why people think its real. Just a ridiculously bad job on a card that tells me exactly what this guy is up to.

Rick Ankiel Ultimate Patch - Very questionable patch here, but at this point we already know what's up.

Its really too bad when stuff like this shows up, hopefully this guy gets banned too.

What the Fed's Presence Says About Fakes and the Hobby

When it comes to fake anything in this hobby, I get fired up. Fake autos, fake cards, fake patches, they all make my blood boil to a point that I refuse to sit idly by while the douchebags out there try to take advantage of people who don’t know any better. The last (and final) time I went to a show, it got to a point where I had words with at least two of the dealers at the show because their booths were packed with fakes. Not just one or two, but practically whole tables. I cant let that slide, and I even considered contacting the show's organizer before I found out that the people were good friends. In fact, there are so many fakes in this hobby that the FBI has gotten involved, going as far as travelling to Baltimore and walking the floor. That’s when you know things are terrible rather than just bad or poor.

I read a piece in the daily news about their presence, and that there were even a few people who wanted to start an industry "police force," or something like that, as a response to their prodding. Although I support the policing of fakes and frauds in our midst, I know that its pointless to create bodies of people who will try to police it. Its one thing when an auction house that sells multi thousand dollar items sells fakes, but its almost impossible to use a broadsword to cut fakes out of places like eBay instead of the scalpel that is needed. Really, there will always be people that sell fakes, because when there is money to be made in a venture, someone will take advantage of it.

Really, what I think is the best idea is to make the databases that PSA and JSA uses available as a searchable site. Offer it as a free service. Put together a roster of signatures from people who are prolifically sold, and let people have a free resource for combatting fakes. Again, that will rely on collectors' ability to use the internet for research, as well as a keen eye from the people who use it, but it’s a start. I have often said that signatures from card companies inserted in packs are going to be the only way to get an authentic signature in the future, and its looking worse and worse every day. Not every piece is going to have documentation like this hilarious Mantle ball, and not everyone is going to know what makes a real Mantle real and a fake Mantle fake. That is where the opportunity lies, however. Education is most definitely the answer, and money spent on education will most definitely pay off. With a light amount of simple education, a casual buyer would be able to recognize that this auto is completely terrible, and this one is legit. But, like with most things in america, people want it done for them without thinking. Then when you factor in that Beckett has rarely ever covered the underbelly of the hobby, with the gross misunderstanding that people will be scared off, it starts to become that much more clear. As much as I hate to admit it, Beckett is a place where uninformed people go for an idea of what is going on, and because they purposefully avoid the subject of fakes all around, those collectors don’t know their asshole from a hole in the ground.

Based on the above, when I hear that the fed is walking the floor at the National, I couldn’t care less. They arent going to be able to do much than hit HUGE targets. Although I like to focus on the smaller targets, I don’t reach enough people to make a difference. Even a little bit. Because of that fact, bigger entities need to figure out a way to help out the people they reach. If we were able to create an autograph-pedia and give people a chance to learn, it would be a start, but if someone like Upper Deck, Panini, or Topps sent out a blast of what to look for, it would trump anything I could ever do. In fact, I would even put it together for them. They would just be the vehicle. Hell, if they don’t like what I do, they can give it to Beckett. I would be more than willing to let Beckett take on this subject as long as more people become edjucated.

Its funny because when one of Ufjumper7's victims emailed me about purchasing a fake, he lamblasted me for calling people like him uninformed in my posts that I do about spotting fakes. Well, if this is the attitude of the people who buy the fakes, maybe there is no hope. If people are not willing to admit that they don’t know all there is to know, there will never be a way to reach them. In fact, when I spoke with one receptive dealer at a show about this subject, he admitted that he would have been offended in the past if someone called his eye for fakes into question. God forbid he cant tell a real from an obvious fake. But, after reading a few fake posts on different sites that I told him to pull up on his computer, he definitely saw where he had a lot to learn. Other people arent as willing to let their egos take a hit like that, especially when their livelihood is involved.

Basically, fakes will always be a part of the hobby we love, but they don’t have to be a growing stain on our reputation. Even if the fed does crack down on bigger fish in the pond, the minnows will always be our own responsibility. I equate a war on fakes to a war on drugs, as there will never be a way to win it. However, there will be small battles in which collectors emerge victorious, and that is where we stand to gain a portion of asylum from the shit storm propogated by the criminals among us.

Im Running Out of Descriptive Words For Ufjumper7

Ufjumper7 takes the word douchebag and makes it a culture. Im pretty sure he has it tattooed on his lower back. Sadly, he has expanded his criminal empire further into baseball with this Albert Pujols hilarity, but at least its so obvious that only the most uniformed portion of the uninformed would even consider bidding. Either way, he has posted so many ridiculous fakes lately, that I can barely keep up:

Reggie Jackson Topps Sterling Tag Patch - How can anyone in their right mind think this is real. Im actually wondering.

Randy Johnson Ultimate Logo Patch - ANOTHER AMAZING PATCH FROM ULTIMATE! He is officially the luckiest guy ever.

And the usual football greatness as well:

LeSean McCoy Certified Freshman Fabrics - These cards only have jerseys in them, but he has put in patches without doing his research. Again, that wont stop people from bidding.

Chris Johnson Exquisite Logo - Its actually funny how commonly faked these cards are. This is even worse because its that much more obvious.

Ray Rice National Treasures Logo - Im starting to wonder if he is going out and buying these patches in bulk, because this one isnt even close.

LeSean McCoy SP Authentic Auto Patch - I don’t need to say anything more than "ugh."

Brett Favre National Treasures Patch Auto - Such a terrible card to waste when faking. Its become practically offensive.

Percy Harvin SPA Auto Patch - WOW! His third logo from the crop of Harvin redemptions he bought. Imagine that! I cant believe he actually got ALL three color patches and logos! Funny how that is!

I actually want to create a special exhibit for him in the patch faker hall of fame. His bust is already displayed next to Kevin Burge, but he needs his own wing. Thank you to all the readers that send these to me, it really makes my day.

EDIT: Here is a listing of all the cards Ufjumper has bid on or bought. Funny how most all of them are single color and or undesirable. Maybe he should cover his tracks better. I love the Chris Johnson jersey he bought.

Ufjumper7 Has Continued His Assault On SPA Redemptions

I have been talking about Ufjumper7 for a long time now. The guy has single-handedly destroyed a portion of 2009 SPA like no other seller has done in a long time. Because of Upper Deck's troubles, as well as rumors of athletes not signing for redemptions, he was able to pick up tons of Kenny Britt, Percy Harvin and Beanie Wells for chump change, all with the intentions of exploiting people. The funny part is how stupid some people are for believing his stuff is real.

Here are his recent auctions to avoid:

Percy Harvin Viking Head Logo /25 - Not only did he destroy a Harvin card with a ridiculous fake logo, but he ruined a gold version that usually sells for around 200. This is his second logo that he has sold, and no one seems to notice. What a douche.

Percy Harvin 3 Color - Harvin didnt get a lot of three colors in SPA, but Ufjumper has gotten them time after time, right? Sure, if you like patches off the replithentic jerseys he bought for 3 bucks.

Percy Harvin 3 Color - See above, these are terrible.

Kenny Britt 3 Color - Kenny Britt also has a 3 color shortage, and when they are three colors, I dont think this is the jersey he wore at the premiere even. Not that this ass hat would even care, but just saying. Stay away.

Here are two others from before, there will defintely be more, he bought a ton of these.

Percy Harvin Vikings Chest Logo - Not even a question this isnt real. I still cannot believe people dont see who this guy really is. Im wondering how long it will be before he changes his name.

Percy Harvin 3 Color - Funny how many of these 3 colors he was "lucky" enough to get. These hit so early after release that no one knew to question him. Again with replithentic patches.

Ufjumper7 needs to be on everyone's list, even you hockey collectors. Most of the time, his fakes are easy to recognize, but every once in a while, he pulls one over on a few unsuspecting people. Ill keep you posted if he pulls any other shit.

Stay AWAY From Anything Ufjumper7

Ufjumper7 is already up to no good with the recent shipment of the Percy Harvin SPAs, and its pretty disheartening that people arent recognizing his crap. This is the umpteenth time I have mentioned him on this site, and I am already tired of him. This guy will most likely be listing a bunch of Harvins, as he actually came up with a pretty good plan. He bought a bunch of redemptions when they were cheap due to rumors, and now has the jump on everyone because no one would suspect they were fake. I mean, they just started showing up on eBay, so how could a known faker be selling fakes, right?

I guarantee that his account should immediately be flagged by everyone, even if this card is real by some miracle. Expect more fakes coming soon as well, as his other redemptions should be showing up very shortly.

Need more proof? Check this one out. I bet this patch pulls right off the top of the swatch.

Ha, this one is almost as good as the Griffey. Some people just have al the luck!

Ufjumper7 is the newest idiot out there, so add him to the list and watch for his name before you bid on anything.