Fake T206 ghosts... Scammer id "aaron" on our board

[atx840]

A few days ago a new T206 ghost was posted on the main forum that caught me as suspicious (new boardmember, different player f/b, name on back, ghost was not limited to one "detail" layer). I let the usual buyers know I was interested in the card and if they would hold off for a bit..to which all did (thanks guys!).

Thread

After a few days the owner sent me additional scans of a "more expensive" card and that he had several errors and ghost available. This is where he got greedy. A Cobb ghost He didn't invert the image, used a top tier HOF, a super print on a 150 series back….and was dumb enough to use a card he just bought on eBay - 6***d(13).

Be really careful when buying these oddballs.....especially overprint & ghosts....the hammer prices are high enough that this likely won't be the last fake.

eBay auction

[Leon]

Chris and I have been in discussions this morning. This person, member id Aaron, is most likely a scammer. He registered with three different names which I questioned. He answered with something and I approved him. However, he also doesn't have a good working number and will be banned for that alone. What's sort of funny is with his last post, in the very long scammer thread where we exposed "Sportscollector" as a scammer, he asked how to contact him. I wouldn't doubt if he was asking how to contact himself . "Aaron" will be banned shortly. Anyone doing a deal with him should rethink it.

[ullmandds]

crazy...so if he inverted the image...and wasn't dumb enough to use a card he just bought off ebay...and didn't put a super print 150 on the back...how would a fake like this be detected?

[Ladder7]

This guy is an artist . That thing could have brought in many K's... The image on the Gilbert ghost has incredible detail under magnification. I suspect this red cobb doesn't have the quality. Also, the ink is likely a new formula that may be detectable by a N54 sleuth.

Nice work Chris and a jolly good effort there to the loser aaron.

[atx840]

His first one was decent, flipped, right size and aligned properly. I think it fooled several people based on the blurry pictures. I would have liked to seen it in hand but I am sure it looks recently printed vs litho and would be caught by a TPG.

These will get better, lI'd advise to have them graded and looked at by those on here who collect them.

[Leon]

From my long conversations, recently, with one our scammers I can safely say that our board sticking together and sharing this kind of info is their biggest deterrent. They usually prey on the uneducated and greedy. If someone offers you a Cobb WST or ghost, for $400, and it looks great....you should be concerned. These fakes are going to start hitting Craigslist and ebay soon...as well as other auction sites. I almost guarantee it. This board won't be immune but it will be much more difficult here, so the scammers will take the paths of least resistance and mostly go elsewhere.

[brob28]

Thanks for posting Chris! Wondering of you guys can direct me to a post that would speak to this or help me with one question. Is the fact that the card is a 150 subject "super print" a giveaway because the Cobb was not printed in this series and thus could not have ghosted the card? Sorry if this question is obvious, I am definately a T206 Newb.

[npa589]

Originally Posted by atx840

His first one was decent, flipped, right size and aligned properly. I think it fooled several people based on the blurry pictures. I would have liked to seen it in hand but I am sure it looks recently printed vs litho and would be caught by a TPG.

These will get better, lI'd advise to have them graded and looked at by those on here who collect them.

Well said. This goes for if you're selling one, or if you collect them. I'd suggest only buying on eBay if someone is selling a raw example, and send it to SGC/PSA (...SGC) rather quickly to verify the validity of the example. If it's not, it's "Buyer Protection" time with eBay.

[mrvster]

Chris

Thanks for the super sleuth!! I missed the thread and this guy cause I have been so busy...



GHOST BUSTER BROWNE


All ghosts must pass the scrutiny of a error / scrap/ ghost Team here...

I 'm so sorry I was late to dinner on this one...

[atx840]

Originally Posted by brob28

Is the fact that the card is a 150 subject "super print" a giveaway because the Cobb was not printed in this series and thus could not have ghosted the card?

Very close... the Super Print red port Cobb had likely not been designed until after the 150 series was printed and shipped out.

Check out www.t206resource.com/Print%20Group%205.html

[brob28]

Awesome, thanks Chris. I'll spend some time on T206 resource on this issue!

Much appreciated.

[bn2cardz]

There was another thread a bit ago where I showed how easy it would be to make a ghost or WST. I put the ghost of cobb on a regular white paper and then I did the test on a random 80s card.

I think the only thing that would give it away is possibly a black light (I didn't check that because I don't have one).

Link to the Thread
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=157535

My post in that thread:

Originally Posted by bn2cardz

This thread got me thinking about how easy it would be to make a freak. At the very least a WST.

So this morning at work when our printer was idle I ran a very quick test. I used a cobb t206 portrait and printed just the black layer.

As soon as it came out of the printer I put a piece of paper on top and pressed down on the wet ink.

Here is what I got:


The scanner I had quick access to didn't show it very well, so I took a photo with my phone. The photo isn't great but it gets the point across.

The left one is the first press. The right one is the second press. I looked under my loupe 8x magnifier and didn't see any discenrable printing pattern due to it just being a wet ink transfer.

My thought is that if it only took me 10 minutes to do this, how many "Wet Sheet Transfers" could be fake. Or maybe other t206 printing anomalies.

[wonkaticket]

Now in the BST.

[Ease]

Originally Posted by wonkaticket

Now in the BST.

Super rare, once in a lifetime oppurtunity there! I got 5 on it. You take expired travelers cheques right? How about euros? Pesos?

[teetwoohsix]

Great job Chris!! I guess he didn't realize who he was messing with

It was just a matter of time before the scammers would attempt to duplicate ghosts. Thanks for outing this.

Sincerely, Clayton

[insccollectibles]

Thank you Chris! I really want to add a ghost to my collection so thank you so much for the information.