Brad:
As I recall from a post several years ago, there have been cases of on-line sellers "sharpening" the scans of cards that they are selling. The intent was to make the card look brighter than it really was, making it appear more desirable than it was otherwise. That's why you may see some sellers on eBay claim that they do not modify scans to improve the appearance of the card.
If someone wanted to scam you, they certainly could attempt to remove tack holes, creases, writing, etc from the scans and make the card appear to be in better condition than it really is. How do you prevent getting burned by this? I would say that tilting your computer screen and viewing the scan from different angles may help to reveal some modifications to the card. For example, tilt your computer screen and view my first scan above. With the screen tilted, you can clearly see that I have removed the writing on the bottom border of the card. On the other hand, if you tilt the computer screen and view the scan of the four-on-one, it is much more difficult to see anything wrong with the card -- although it has been modified.
Brad
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