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.

PSA Makes Me Sick

Just Sayin'.

How can any card grader put their slab on this card? Completely fucking ridiculous. PSA should be a prime target for the feds, if they arent already.

h/t SCF

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.

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.

1500 Bucks Wont Scare Away A Scammer

There are times where you just wonder where people get some ideas. Its become obvious in the last few years that price tag is not a factor when considering fakes, and these examples are the quintessential example of that. On BO's forum, a collector brought these to my attention, showing proof of the patch alterations made to the card.

First, we have this one, number 3 of 25, a 1500 dollar card, if not more. The seller took it down and relisted it with proof of its fake status, claiming that it was sold for a customer, but I have heard that before. Just goes to show what some people will do to make a few extra dollars. Fakers really dont understand that fans track the rare cards like this, so when there are only 25 of these high profile cards, its very likely that there is going to be someone with scans of every one of them put on the net.

Second, we have number 19 of 25, which carries a similar ridiculous price tag PRIOR to alteration. Again, this was pulled because the seller decided to make good on his fakes, but again its still reeks of scam.

Here is the auction the seller listed with the proof and the apology.

Even though these cards were not sold with their fake patches in this form , they will still most likely show up in another form. The purpose of this is to show that no card is safe from fakes, and that you need to look at every possible angle before buying a card in any form. The hobby is an unsafe place when it comes to some cards, and unfortunately that means that price tag is not a deterrant.

Fake Patches Still Make Me Laugh

I love these types of cards, even going so far as saying that I am a connoisseur of fine fake patches. Today, as I woke up to Noah screaming for his bottle, I checked my email to find this godlike example of a incredible and beautiful fake patch. Really, this card has circulated around ebay so many times, I just laugh at every person who buys it. I know its fake because the Vikings had no logos that size on the jerseys that Peterson wore at the 2007 Rookie Premiere, and yet no one is smart enough to do their homework.

This Peterson isnt the only one on eBay right now that features a patch of this fake quality, and yet, so many people continue to bid and bid thinking, "OMG I MUST HAVEZ THIS MOJOZ!" As I have said a million times, if you take 10 minutes to cover your own ass, 90% of the time you are going to have an answer on the patch authenticity. For the other 10% of the time, it may not be 100% clear, but it may give you enough information to decide whether to walk away. Personally, I dont buy a patch card unless I am truly sure if its real, as its just not worth me having a question about the card for the entire time I own it.

Check these out:

LeSean McCoy NT Logo Patch /99 - This card is one of the base patches, and from what I have observed this would be the first real chest logo in the base parallel. All of the real logo patches are in the gold set /25. A great way to approach it, especially because of how many questions it helps to answer.

Tom Seaver Mets Logo Patch - The Ultimate Patch set from 2009 Ultimate will eventually be the most faked patch set in the history of patch sets. There are just too many patches that could be real or could be fake. This one is 100% fake. Upper Deck was meticulous in matching the player picture with the patch, and this card doesnt match.

Maurice Jones Drew Limited Logo Patch - This is one of those cards that all people would need to do is look at everything else the seller is selling. Everything on his seller page is listed in a shady way, and he is selling NSA stuff as well. Then you see this type of card listed as a 1/1, but really out of 25, and the picture becomes more clear. Why waste your money or your time?

Tom Brady NFL Logo Patch 4/5 - Not only is this seller's name terrible, but this card is one of a slew of fake patches this guy has. Whenever I see an NFL logo patch numbered higher than 1/1, I start to raise my antennae, then when I also see cards like this one, I immediately write the guy off.

Chad Pennington NFL Logo Patch - Normally I wouldnt care about a Chad Pennington card, but I want to make a point here. Fleer went out of business in 2004 before being purchased by Upper Deck, and a lot of their cards that were in their "vault" flooded the market without patches in the patch window. Obviously, this means that the scammers had the opportunity to make cards like this. Although there are SOME real ones, I wouldnt touch any fleer logo patches from any set that was released around the bankruptcy.

Again, many of these cards can easily be ruled fake by doing your homework, so its pretty easy to protect yourself without much effort. Many people have emailed me looking for help on the patches they find, and I am always happy to help. I also know that everyone on the message boards are willing to help, so dont hesitate to ask for help.

Some Fake Buyers Deserve It...

Hank Aaron was a huge part of the 2005 Absolute Memorabilia Sets. His cards are some of the most valuable in the set, minus Thorpe and Ruth. Its pretty obvious why he is a target for scammers out there, even more so when you consider that this set is one of the most faked sets of all time. Didnt stop people from bidding on this abomination.

1. The card says game used jersey, not game used jersey prime

2. The card is numbered to 250

3. Hank Aaron retired in 1976, this patch is from 1994

4. There is no jersey material present on the edges.

5. WHO FUCKING CARES! THIS CARD IS FAKE!

Some people deserve what they get.

Breaking the Most Important Rule Of Ebay Buying Will Screw You

I have always said that when you are looking at buying a ridiculous patch on eBay, the first place you need to look before bidding or buying is the other auctions the guy has up. If he has lots of questionable items for sale, you need to walk away as fast as possible. For some reason, despite all the years of press on fake patches, people just don’t get that the scammers will do whatever it takes to get money from your pocket to theirs. With the recent advent of using more of the best patches on the jersey for even the highest numbered cards, scammers have seen an opportunity for fakes that was never possible before. One douchebag in particular, **ryder**, took it upon himself to pollute the fake patch gene pool as much as he possibly could. Take a look at some of these auctions and you will see what I mean. Almost every single one of his patches is fake, including some of the most poorly done cards I have ever seen. He is also representative of the new trend of three color patchesas fakes instead of logos, a very troubling scenario when dealing with SPA and Exquisite patches. Because there are enough people onto the use of fake logos, some sellers are just substituting believable patches instead of ridiculous fakes.

Here are some of my favorites:

Beanie Wells Fake SPA Patch Auto - This one is almost comical, especially when you see all the other Beanies he has for sale. A few people on FCB were chatting about this one, and I concur with their observation that the patch doesn’t necessitate this price, even if it were real.

Ray Rice Fake SPA Patch Auto - Although there were some Ravens logo patches in 2008 SPA, this isnt one of them. I have said countless times that the sleeve patch for Baltimore rivals the Viking head as the most faked patch around, mainly because of how incredible it looks when real. This one is fake.

Ray Rice Fake Exquisite Patch Auto - See my point above.

Shonn Greene Fake SPA Patch Auto - Since the Jets only have two colors on the entire jersey, the chest logo and the reebok logo are the only premium patches they have. When you see one like this, its pretty hard to think its real. Obviously this one isnt.

All Star Fake #1

Mariano Rivera Fake Yankee Stadium Logo Patch - I can tell you now that there are none of these patches in 2009 Ultimate baseball, and I have even covered this type of card before. Like the Jets, the yankees have few premium patches on their jerseys, which leads to fakes like this to beef up the sales. My guess is that this patch isnt even sewn on to the swatch. Fucking terrible.

All Star Fake #2

Ichiro Suzuki Fake Mariners Logo Patch - Despite my feelings on Topps sterling as a whole, these cards are huge targets for fakes. Huge swatch windows give people the opportunity to remove and replace the existing patches, and this one takes the cake. I cant believe he thought he would get 1200 for this abomination.

All Star Fake #3

Chin Ming Wang Fake All Star Patch - I think its hilarious that someone dropped 150 bucks on this piece of shit, especially because of what patch was in there. No way this is even close to real, yet that didn’t stop someone from freaking out enough to buy this card. Absolutely horrible.

If there is one piece of advice I could give you to live by, its definitely to do your research before you buy any card, even if you dont suspect anything. It takes five minutes and cant really hurt you to cover your ass. If you dont, you could end up as one of these schmoes who bought one of these idiotic fakes. Ebay is not looking out for you, so the only person who will help you is you. Write that down.