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eBay Forgery Seller lock-em-up-bob "Almost Done"

eBay seller lock-em-up-bob continues to sell awful home-made forgeries on eBay. Over 5,000+ junk forgeries scribbled on cheap base cards from the 80s.

Back in March, lock-em-up-bob was starting to say this was his "Final go around", and had the following (hilarious) description in his auctions, this is from one of many, many Don Mattingly forgeries he has sold:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DON-MATTINGLY-autograph-1992-TOPPS-set-sign...

"I JUST WANTED TO THANK EVERYONE WHO OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS THAT HAVE WON MANY OF MY AUCTIONS... I WANTED EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT THIS WILL BE MY "LAST" GO ROUND PER-SET WHICH WILL TAKE PLACE OVER THE NEXT COUPLE MONTHS... WHATEVER IS LEFT OVER AT THE END WILL BE SOLD IN GIANT LOTS.. AGAIN THANK YOU TO EVERYONE, HAPPY COLLECTING"

Aka: "Thank you for making me rich off of scribbling on all my old 80's base cards from the Junk Era"

Here we are 2 months later, and due to greed, (and how easy it is to commit fraud on eBay), lock-em-up-bob continues to sell forgeries. Here is yet another Don Mattingly forgery (which he is trying to adapt, and it's still bad), but take a look at the new descriptions:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DON-MATTINGLY-autograph-1986-TOPPS-set-sign...

Here is the current description:

"I WAS HOPING TO BE DONE BUT I'M LEFT WITH AROUND 1,500 MORE CARDS THAT DID'T SELL OR WERE NOT PAID FOR... SO I'M DOING ONE FINAL ROUND PER SET ONE NIGHT ONLY AND WILL NOT BE RELISTING ANY CARDS FROM HERE ON IN... WHATEVER DOES NOT SELL THIS TIME WILL BE SOLD IN A LOT."

AKA: "I have 1,500 more worthless base cards laying around, so I might as well scribble on them and sell them to you morons and make even more free money."

Absolutely sickening that eBay has allowed this master forger to survive for so long. These people should be in prison.

Tags: ebay, forgeries, lock-em-up-bob, scammer

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Permalink Reply by Stewart Murphy on October 25, 2022 at 3:40pm

That's as low as it gets. Thanks for letting me know mate. Is IN-PERSON-AUTOGRAPHS the same company?

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Permalink Reply by BGK on October 25, 2022 at 3:54pm

Hi everyone. I puzzles me when an ebay shop is singled out on ths forum for selling forgeries when the sale of fakes on ebay is industrial in scope. In my opinion, 80% or more of the autographs listed on ebay are fake. Go right now to ebay and search "Anthony Bourdain Signed" (newly listed) and you will see a string of fakes listed a few days ago for 85-odd dollars or so supposedly by different sellers but in reality not so. I personally have identified one group - I call it a cartel - that manufactures and sells forgeries across perhaps 40 usernames which they change repeatedly as the negative feedbacks mount. Please understand, on ebay (and probably everywhere else) it's buyer beware on steroids. So it's good for potential buyers to know that "lock-em-up-bob is a thief, but don't lets start to think the problem is not fundamentally worse.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on October 25, 2022 at 4:09pm

BGK, I have always written that today's forgery business/industry is as bad as it's ever been.

I just posted the below blog on Ebay seller Beamup1 who is listing/selling kitchen-table forgeries.

https://live.autographmagazine.com/profiles/blogs/ebay-seller-beamu...

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Permalink Reply by BGK on October 25, 2022 at 4:28pm

Agreed. I've given it so much thought but have been unable to come up with a viable way to curtail it. The root of the problem is the old "your word against mine" thing; if you don't physically observe the forgery as it's being done, the seller simply claims to have bought it from someone else or "it looks authentic to me." Ebay is reluctant to act, and aside from the fact that they're making a boatload of money off the forgers, the reality is what can they really do? Think about it... what case could even the FBI bring without hard evidence?

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Permalink Reply by Jason Williams on November 8, 2022 at 11:10am

First time poster here. Been lurking this site for a while but had to post as I recently purchased a signed Andre Rieu photo from an ebay seller that I have seen mentioned on this list. His name is Vinhar-65. He claimed to me he got this signed photo from Andre Rieu's Management Company as he wrote to them and received the following autographed photo (this is the original listing of the signed photo I received):

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10x8-Photo-Personally-Autographed-by-And...

I received the item today and it contained the stated "Certificate of Authenticity" he was going to include. The certificate is by "Maverick Collectables" and from further inspection, I see this is in fact Vinhar-65. That's when alarm bells started to ring for me. I would have assumed he would have got the Management Company or an external company to authenticate this, not do this himself.

I've sent him a message on ebay querying this and have contacted Andre Rieu's Helpdesk on his webstore to see if anyone can confirm if this item is legitimate. I see on the certificate he's included the address he received the Andre Rieu photo from (the Fan Mail address), which is mentioned on a Fan Mail site that you can go on to send letters requesting autographs. So this made me then this could be in fact real?

Can anyone here have a look on the link and confirm if it's indeed genuine? Or is it a fake and I've been swindled? Luckily, I've paid by PayPal and so, I have time to argue a case to get my money back if it's proven to not be real. The seller even states he offers an immediate refund of the purchase price if the item is provided other than represented.

I appreciate any response.

Take care.

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Permalink Reply by Jason H on November 8, 2022 at 11:29am

For authenticity, this may be tough to figure out. I did find this post way back in 2014. Is it the same fanmail address you received? It took him 2 months to receive a response. Might be worth a try if you can verify the address still works. Maybe someone can check starting for a more recent response. Im no longer a member

http://www.fanmail.biz/mboard/viewtopic.php?t=342734

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Permalink Reply by Jason Williams on November 8, 2022 at 11:40am

Thanks for your response and input. Just checked the fan mail site you posted and the address doesn't match. The one on the link you have sent is US based. The address on the certificate I've received is: Andre Rieu productions and is based in Maastricht in The Netherlands. It matches the link found here:

http://www.fanmailaddresses.com/public/addresses.asp?id=6140&re...

Hopefully I hear something from Andre Rieu's webstore as surely they'll know if it's genuine or not. I am concerned though but as I said, alarm bells started to ring once I saw the certificate.

Edit: Just seen the address supplied on the certificate also matches the address on Andre Rieu's webstore (when returning items). So it matches that and the fanmail site at the link I provided above. Really hoping this is real as I got this as a Christmas present for my Grandad, who is a big fan of his.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on November 8, 2022 at 11:55am

"Hopefully I hear something from Andre Rieu's webstore as surely they'll know if it's genuine or not."

That would likely be worth less than a QO IMO. They are there to make money - not study autographs.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Williams on November 8, 2022 at 12:09pm

Thanks for your response, much appreciated.

Only other option I've found is I've contacted Andre Rieu's Press Team and linked this to Photos. Hopefully someone will look at the message and be able to clarify but will have to wait and see.

At the moment, I'm not hopeful. At least I have the Ebay Money Back Guarantee to cover me.