"There are three kinds of men.
The ones that learn by reading.
The few who learn by observation.
The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves"
Will Rodgers

Welcome to my fraud alert page. On this page you will find some ideas/comments that will hopefully keep you from the above mentioned electric fence. Please have a look at the links below. If you have any suggestions please let me know. Thanks!

I have come up with a new name for Ebay auctions- FAKEBAY! Shame on them for their continued support of the IDIOTS who are scamming good people out of hard earned money!

EBAY says posting any information concerning the contact information about auction participants anywhere on the World Wide Web is against their rules. So in order to protect myself I have eliminated any specific personal references to any of the fraudulent image sellers from my web pages. I think this is a good rule overall, as it keeps personal vendettas from entering the world of on line auctions. Still, we must find away to protect ourselves by somehow warning each other of current cons and those that are running them. I am open to your suggestions and will post them here. It is a sad day when we protect the rights of the scam artists over those of the innocent beginner collectors, but that is the state of EBAY at the moment, but hopefully it will change with our concerted efforts by contacting “Safe Harbor” as these fakes appear. KEEP COMPLAINING ABOUT THE FAKERS DIRECTLY TO EBAY! Thanks!

PLEASE READ THIS!!! What is going on with ebay lately? The fakes are being auctioned hot and heavy! The sellers are getting smart, as they are hiding the bidders identities to keep them from being contacted and warned about the fakes they are bidding on. What does that tell you about the seller? They know it is a fake and are being protected by ebay (unintentionally I am sure, leave it to the crooks to find a new scam) by being allowed to use this feature. This is going to hurt the image collecting field dramatically by destroying the collectors faith in the images they want to purchase but won't now in case they might be bad. Hits legitimate dealers and collectors right in the wallet. Let the crooks know it is unacceptable and let ebay know as well when a bad image is being auctioned.

Here is another of the most prevalent scams on ebay that I have been noticing: The auction description states "I don't know anything about this kinda thing, so I am selling it with no returns, as is- you be the judge." The problem is that ignorance is no excuse for fraud. If you sell a fake image, and you really don't have a clue, give a refund if it proves to be a fake. That is the fair and reasonable thing to do. The "as is, you be the judge" line is for the scam artist.
Buyers: Please be careful, think before you bid. They are giving themselves a legal out by making these statements on their auction.