Fradulent eBay Seller mmash2 Beware!
Watch out for this eBay seller. They are copying other legitimate seller's images and shipping forgeries to unsuspecting customers. Check out their auctions. They are selling a Sammy Sosa ball that if you look at the image you would think you are getting an authentic signature. But instead they ship you a fake autographed ball with a few trading cards. CLICK HERE to look at this seller. Notice in the Sosa ad, they don't say where the COA comes from, when it was signed, or anything that would prove authenticity. Remember, unless a seller is buying from reputable companies or doing documented signings, they are probably selling fake items because there is no way they are finding these guys in the locker room to sign their stuff. Check out this page from MRAK Sports on how to spot forgeries on eBay. If you have ever been taken advantage on eBay we want to hear about it. Post your comments at the bottom of this article.
10 Comments:
I have never been taken advantage of but I do look for forgeries or things that seem funny. Love your site great info. I was recently TOS'd by eBay for posting threads warning people of fraudualent Vintage Baseball Cards so much for trying to be a good guy. Any here is another funny ball.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=27260&item=5140929183&rd=1
Notice in the discription the seller makes reference to ball being Certified by Paul O'Neil Productions then furth down the discription he corrects himself and types in COA signed by Robert O'neil. Now I'm not saying this is a forged item but I own a 98 Steiner WS ball and I believe Cone was under contract to them in 2000 also. Any thanks for having this site I refer people to it all the time. Alex P
I have never been taken advantage of but I do look for forgeries or things that seem funny. Love your site great info. I was recently TOS'd by eBay for posting threads warning people of fraudualent Vintage Baseball Cards so much for trying to be a good guy. Any here is another funny ball.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=27260&item=5140929183&rd=1
Notice in the discription the seller makes reference to ball being Certified by Paul O'Neil Productions then furth down the discription he corrects himself and types in COA signed by Robert O'neil. Now I'm not saying this is a forged item but I own a 98 Steiner WS ball and I believe Cone was under contract to them in 2000 also. Any thanks for having this site I refer people to it all the time. Alex P
I have never been taken advantage of but I do look for forgeries or things that seem funny. Love your site great info. I was recently TOS'd by eBay for posting threads warning people of fraudualent Vintage Baseball Cards so much for trying to be a good guy. Any here is another funny ball.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=27260&item=5140929183&rd=1
Notice in the discription the seller makes reference to ball being Certified by Paul O'Neil Productions then furth down the discription he corrects himself and types in COA signed by Robert O'neil. Now I'm not saying this is a forged item but I own a 98 Steiner WS ball and I believe Cone was under contract to them in 2000 also. Any thanks for having this site I refer people to it all the time. Alex P
Hello Alex, thanks for referring our site to people, please let us know if you come across sellers on ebay selling fake stuff, we appreciate your feedback! I looked at that David Cone ball you gave me, that COA looks pretty cheesy, like someone printed it on their computer. I am not saying it is a forgery because I am not that familiar with Cone's signature...I will look into it more and let you know. Thanks!
I made the mistake of making a purchase from this guy i thought i did my home work read his feedback but ran across this article after the auction the autographed item i got didnt look anything like the one in his picture then i found the same pic on another site then i got to looking at his other auctions and found other pics i found on a few other sites im not saying hes the one coping others pictures but its sure funny how the pics hes using are the same on other auctions if i have been scammed what options do i have how do you report a seller like this
Hello, you can report the seller to eBay but they probably won't do anything about it. You are correct, most of these guys use each other's images and then send you something that looks totally different. Let us know when you purchased from them and what you bought...thanks!
check out sigsrus on eBay. this jerk has been re-listing bogus george bush, sports, and music memoribilia for year s now. thing is, he puts pictures of the celebs signing, but shows forged items in the lot. and sometimes, he lists real signatures to salt his items, i.e., to confuse people into thinking that his items are legit. CROOK!!!
You are right, these do look kind of fishy. Why is his face cut out of all the pics? Although I can't say for certain if the autographs are fake...if he is continually re-listing multiple items they are probably fake because these celebs don't sit there and sign multiple items for grown men.
hello people, last time i was on e-bay looking for motorcycles. i found one i liked and placed a bid for it. as i did that..a message poped up and said that i needed to ask seller for permission to be on the biding list for that particular bike. well i sent an e-mail to the seller "mellapanilla" is the screen name, and asked if i can participate to place a bid for that motorcycle.i received an e-mail later telling me he would leave it to me at 2800.00 and i sent an e-mail back to him asking for less and 15 min later... i recive an Instant Message from him or her telling me that it was ok at 2600.00 Being my first time on e-bay, i asked the seller what were the steps then to buy it.. then she told me.."send member ID,Item #,Seller's ID and agreement price to "SUPPORT@SEAL-BUYS.NET" and that this company would make me an invoice on the motorcycle and steps to pay for the bike. so i got the damn e-mail from"SUPPORT@SEAL-BUYS.NET" and the steps described to pay for the bike were:1.western union the money "no checks or CC's" to the e-bay agent.2. e-bay agent will recieve the money.3. e-bay agent will then send an e-mail to seller telling him/her it's ok to ship the product and seller has 2 days to mail back e-bay's agent the tracking number of the shipment, if not, i would get my full refund. well ladies and gentle men..believe it or not.. there is some ass holes out there."SUPPORT@SEAL-BUYS.NET" was not a legitamet company. instead it was a damn screen name of some accomplice the seller had as a friend making this fradulent deal. the e-mails look very legit as if they were streight from e-bay. don't be fooled. one way you can tell it's a fake... check all the spelling of the letters you recieve from company's. legit company's don't mispell words in a web page.good luck people.
Can you please post this information on your website to help inform the public about forgeries and what to do? Thanks.
If you have been scammed here is who you can contact:
You can use the contact information below to file a formal complaint with the celebrity and studio. It is important to contact both if the item is associated with a motion picture or television production.
You can also formally request that the celebrities get involved and set up a simple forgery prevention program which involves the use of a holographic security label that only costs a few pennies.
Direct Celebrity inquires by fax to:
TO: Screen Actors Guild
Attention: Alan Rosenberg; President
FAX NUMBER: (323) 549-6677
Law Enforcement:
Tim Fitzsimmons (FBI) Specializes in Forgeries and Counterfeit items
Phone: 858-499-7814
Studio Information:
STUDIOS
DREAMWORKS SKG
www.dreamworks.com
1000 Flower St.
Glendale, CA 91201
Phone 818-695-5000
METRO GOLDWYN MAYER (MGM)
www.mgm.com
10250 Constellation Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90067
Phone 310-449-3000
MIRAMAX FILMS (LA)
www.miramax.com
8439 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Phone 323-822-4100
Heather Johnson VP, Publicity
MIRAMAX FILMS (NY)
www.miramax.com
375 Greenwich St.
New York, NY 10013-2338
Phone 212-941-3800
NEW LINE CINEMA (LA)
www.newlinecinema.com
116 N. Robertson, Ste. 400
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Phone 310-854-5811
NEW LINE CINEMA (NY)
www.newlinecinema.com
888 Seventh Ave., 20th Fl.
New York, NY 10106
Phone 212-649-4900
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
www.paramount.com
5555 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90038-3197
Phone 323-956-5000
SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT
www.sony.com
10202 W. Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232-3195
Phone 310-244-4000
TURNER ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
www.turner.com
1050 Techwood Dr. NW
Atlanta, GA 30318-5604
Phone 404-827-1500
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
www.fox.com
10201 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035
Phone 310-369-1000
UNIVERSAL
www.universalstudios.com
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608
Phone 818-777-1000
VIACOM ENTERTAINMENT GROUP (LA)
www.viacom.com
5555 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Phone 323-956-5000
WALT DISNEY COMPANY, THE
www.disney.com
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521
Phone 818-560-1000
WARNER BROS. STUDIOS
www.warnerbros.com
4000 Warner Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91522
Phone 818-954-6000
NETWORKS
ABC ENTERTAINMENT
www.abc.com 500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521
Phone 818-460-7777
CBS ENTERTAINMENT
www.cbs.com 7800 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036-2188
Phone 323-575-2345
COMEDY CENTRAL
www.comedycentral.com
1775 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
Phone 212-767-8600
FOX
www.fox.com
10201 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035
Phone 310-369-1000
HBO (LA)
www.hbo.com
2049 Century Park East, Ste. 3600
Los Angeles, CA 90067
Phone 310-201-9200
HBO (NY)
www.hbo.com
1100 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
Phone 212-512-1000
MTV NETWORKS (LA)
www.mtv.com
2600 Colorado Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Phone 310-752-8000
MTV NETWORKS (NY)
www.mtv.com
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
Phone 212-258-8000
NBC ENTERTAINMENT
www.nbc.com
3000 W. Alameda Ave.
Burbank, CA 91523-0001
Phone 818-840-4444
NICKELODEON/NICK AT NITE/TV LAND
www.nickatnitestvland.com/
1515 Broadway, 38th Fl.
New York, NY 10036
Phone 212-258-7500
PBS
1320 Braddock Place
www.pbs.org
Alexandria, VA 22314-1698
Phone 703-739-5000
SHOWTIME NETWORKS, INC. (LA)
www.sho.com
10880 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 1600
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Phone 310-234-5200
SHOWTIME NETWORKS, INC. (NY)
www.sho.com
1633 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
Phone 212-708-1600
TURNER NETWORK TELEVISION (TNT)
www.turner.com
4000 Warner Blvd., Bldg. 160
Burbank, CA 91505
Phone 818-977-5500
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
www.fox.com
10201 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035
Phone 310-369-1000
UNITED PARAMOUNT NETWORK (UPN)
www.upn.com
11800 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Phone 310-575-7000
VIACOM ENTERTAINMENT GROUP (LA)
www.viacom.com
5555 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Phone 323-956-5000
VH1
www.viacom.com
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
Phone 212-846-8000
WB TELEVISION NETWORK
www.thewb.com
4000 Warner Blvd., Bldg. 34-R
Burbank, CA 91522
Phone 818-977-5000
The Problem with EBay:
From Ebay to Rent-A-Tables at the Mall or Flea Market forgeries and unauthorized script copies are being sold in the tens of thousands each month. It is estimated that close to 30,000 forged, counterfeit and illegal items are sold on EBAY every few weeks. Forging has now become a multi-million dollar industry.
This has been a mounting concern with studios and celebrities for many reasons the most prominent of which is that the forgers are using the name and reputation of the studios and celebrities to pray on tens of thousands of victims.
Our first instinct may be that the victim should know better than to buy an autographed item but when you look at a website like Ebay which contains tens of thousands of forged items and actually PROMOTES and sends out advertisments encouraging people to buy autographed items from their site, it becomes clear that there are contributing factors to the victims being roped into the forgery scams.
The Professional Autographed Dealers Association estimates that 90-98% of the A-list Hollywood Celebrity autographs on Ebay are forgeries or are in some way counterfeit. To date, Ebay has not been interested in working with anyone to prevent forgeries from being listed on their site apparently because it would cause a multi-million dollar loss to their revenue stream. Ebay has a system to report a forgery but refuses to initiate a system to PREVENT them from being listed.
Our recent experience with Ebay is even if you PROVE the item is a forgery before you pay and provide a police report and authentication information from a professional proving the item is a forgery, EBAY will attempt to FORCE the victim to still pay for the item or EBay threatens to kick the buyer off ebay with an unpaid item strike.
Since Ebay will not prevent the items from being listed on the internet the copyright owners can create a program to identify the forgeries and more importantly so the public and fans can identify the forgeries. That is why it is important to file a formal complaint with the celebrity and studio when you have purchased a forgery.
The FBI has given the studio and celebrities an inexpensive protocal for preventing the vast majority of forgeries but there has to be enough of a public outcry to get them to take action on it so contact the celebrity and studio it will make a difference.
Here is a list of ebay buyers who we have found have a high risk of selling mostly forgeries and/or unauthorized copyrighted items:
FORGED PHOTOS AND UNAUTHORIZED PHOTO REPRINTS
photoplace77055 (private
fotogez ( 1129
jaredsclothes0803 ( 43 )
cheffreyscoolcollectibles
mazza1178 ( 475 )
hott_babe ( 1709 )
famous_fotos ( 1814 )
fastestshippersaroundusa (private)
rrcustomcollectables ( 1334 )
recordfella ( 290 )
big_popa_pump ( 1526 )
redhotcollectibles ( 6 )
photocreek (private)
the_collection_guy ( 1458 )
fairpricephotos ( 2296 )
recordfella ( 290 )
autographtrap ( 1009
dave_collectibles ( 5552 )
djm.trading ( 1692 )
bubble-n-squeak (private)
realhot77084 (private)
glamore451 (private)
famous_photos ( 56 )
quality_autographs ( 485 )
sellerofchoice
beachbumlucky711 ( 417 )
dee3848 ( 30 )
esb0999 ( 5072 )
the_collection_guy ( 1458 )
ocauctions ( 228 )
reddevils01 ( 743 )
emassive88 ( 371 )
celebguru ( 1593 )
take1twiceaday ( 344 )
firstchance0 ( 1174
Illegal and unauthorized SCRIPT copies (copyright fraud)
elfontherun ( 7232 )
movie_watchers ( 4901 )
$1redcar ( 949 ) autographedcollectibles ( 46 )
genuine-replicas ( 488 )
theoldschool3 ( 6095 )
littleshopofhollywood ( 566 )
backstage-replicas ( 1213 )
cheffreyscoolcollectibles ( 2188 )
scripts50 ( 720 )
tinseltownauctions ( 5392 )
The Hollywood Legal Alliance is a co-operative of studios, celebrities, producers, legal representatives, volunteers and other professionals dedicated to the prevention of copyright infringement, forgeries and the illegal sale of goods on the internet.
It is unlawful to reproduce recorded media, photos, scripts or celebrity signatures without written consent of the copyright owner. This becomes a clear violation of the law when the reproductions are additionally listed for sale and/or profit.
Most studios, producers and celebrities have made it a policy not to allow set visits, walk on roles, or meet and greets to be listed on the internet without specific permission. This is expanding to donated autographed items.
A listing may be removed for several reasons; Here are the most common:
1) The item is believed to be a forgery.
2) The item is an illegal reproduction.
3) The item may have a legitimate signature but is on an illegal reproduction.
4) The item listed is against the policy of the copyright/originating owner.
5) The item is using illegal logos, trademarks or copyrighted materials.
Due to the volume of items being addressed it will not be possible to address all correspondence personally. Multiple violations of copyright law may result in criminal charges or civil action against the seller.
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