*Received Cards Back Scammer Alert(Do not accept payments from or ship to this buyer)

[drcy]

If your story is accurate, the cards are stolen, aka hot. It's illegal to knowingly sell items you know are stolen, even if you bought them innocently. The cards would have to be returned to you, and the second buyer would be entitled to a refund from the seller he bought the card from. If the second person has been informed the card is stolen, he should be aware that he himself would be breaking the law by reselling it.

I just wrote an article on this very subject:

The Importance of Provenance in Collecting

[JasonD08]

Call the local prosecutor and detective in that town he lives in. They can try to scare him. If that does not work a PI can help but may be more than what the cards are worth. If he doesn't break you are up a creek. I dealt with this years ago on a PSA 32 caramel Ruth and PSA 7 33 goudey Gehrig. It took me 7 months and I did ALL the work to track him down even with FBI involved. Taking CC nowadays is risky. Good luck.

Jason

[drcy]

If I was the owner and they were indeed stolen, I would post the serial numbers on the PSA board, state that the cards were stolen and anyone buying and selling them is dealing in stolen goods. The only legal thing to do is to return the cards to the rightful owner. It sucks if someone unknowingly bought something that was stolen, but that's the way it goes-- that person's legal recourse is to get a refund from the person he bought it from because that sale wasn't legal.

[Kenny Cole]

I would contact the FBI's internet fraud unit. They once helped me with a scammer.

[Sean1125]

Originally Posted by drcy

If I was the owner and they were indeed stolen, I would post the serial numbers on the PSA board, state that the cards were stolen and anyone buying and selling them is dealing in stolen goods. The only legal thing to do is to return the cards to the rightful owner. It sucks if someone unknowingly bought something that was stolen, but that's the way it goes-- that person's legal recourse is to get a refund from the person he bought it from because that sale wasn't legal.

I am banned on the PSA boards.

[Maddog]

You might also want to contact the US Post Office Inspector General's Office.
Since these are items of stolen property and the Postal Service was used to facilitate this, there might be a case for mail fraud.

[bigfanNY]

I feel your pain I once took a paypal payment for a card and when the person reported his card stolen the same thing happened to me Funds were frozen by paypal. I was lucky that guy was up and up and contacted his credit card and paypal and told them that this transaction was up and up so after about 3 months I got paid. But I was very surprised to know that by him funding his paypal with a credit card in the eyes of paypal I was taking a credit card payment. And I was really shocked by how quickly Paypal stepped out of the way and let me deal with the heat and offered me no help and my 3% bought me no protection. Scary world. Postal inspectors should help and hope it works out.
Jonathan

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Originally Posted by drcy

If your story is accurate, the cards are stolen, aka hot. It's illegal to knowingly sell items you know are stolen, even if you bought them innocently. The cards would have to be returned to you, and the second buyer would be entitled to a refund from the seller he bought the card from. If the second person has been informed the card is stolen, he should be aware that he himself would be breaking the law by reselling it.

I just wrote an article on this very subject:

The Importance of Provenance in Collecting

I am not familiar with the federal law on the issue but I do not that different states treat this issue differently.

[Sean1125]

I wanted to update this. The seller who purchased the stolen cards RETURNED them to me - there are still honest sellers out there folks.

Sean