[swarmee]

PWCC's lawyer responded back to this thread on a different message board; figured it was worth posting here.

Calvindog
Altered Cards Going Back to Their Owners?
There's a thread on Net 54 claiming that cards which were outed as altered on Blowout were returned to the owners, only to be resold on eBay.

Such a claim suggests that every outed card was immediately seized by either the FBI or the auctioneer who sold the altered card -- and then somehow returned them to their owners, only to be resold at a later time, still in the holders. Of course, this is false. I'll explain this s l o w l y so that everyone understands what occurred:

After the cards were outed, at least in the case of PWCC, attempts to contact the purchaser of the altered cards were made. In many instances contact was made and the owner of the card was given the option to receive a refund in exchange for the return of the card to PWCC. When the refund was requested, the card was returned to PWCC and sent to the FBI where it remains, never to be resold again.

In many instances, owners of outed cards refused the refund as they wanted to keep the cards despite allegations of alteration. It happened a LOT of times. Either the owner didn't believe their card was altered or didn't care. At that point, the FBI did not break down any doors to seize said cards. Sorry. The outed card, therefore, potentially could be resold despite the best efforts of PWCC.

In many instances, contact was made, but the owners no longer owned the outed card. In some instances the new owners could be found and contacted and again offers were made for partial or full refunds in exchange for the return of the card. Sometimes the cards were returned (and sent to the FBI) and in other instances they were not. Again, the FBI did not break down any doors to seize said cards. The outed cards, again, could potentially surface for sale later down the line.

In many other instances, no contact was made at all despite the best efforts of telephone calls, emails, etc. These cards potentially could end up being resold.

So, again, to clear up what was falsely claimed on Net 54: no outed cards were sent back to the owners by the FBI or PWCC. Any cards which resulted in refunds were sent from the owners to PWCC to the FBI. No cards were sent to PSA. If anyone has any questions on this subject, it might make some sense to think before posting or -- gasp -- contact me first with a question. I know, I know, asking questions takes some effort and effort is hard, but at least misinformation will not be spread publicly.