We are an eBay affiliate and may be compensated for clicks on links that result in purchases.

Fake charity items from PSA Productions.....Jordan, Lebron, DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Aaron Rogers, etc.

I mentioned this here last year and nobody responded. There is a company here in Phoenix called Mountainside Fitness, to which I belong. They are again setting up a charity auction from a company called PSA Productions run by a guy, Jim Johnson (pretty sure that is his name). They set up inside the health club and have bidding sheets. Just about everything is fake, with the exception of a PSA Magic and Bird and a JSA Cincinnati Reds signed photo with Rose, Bench.

All of the fake items are certified by GA, yes, Steve Sipe. Everything is elaborately matted and framed to throw off any suspicion.

The banners at the tables all have large PSA lettering so it appears that PSA is the company offering the goods, when in fact it is someone taking advantage of the PSA name recognition.

I of course asked to speak with the general manager. No surprise, he isn't available. They offer me their corporate number, nobody answers and they ask you to leave a message. Again, no surprise, no return phone call. This really p***** me off. I went up to every person I saw looking at the items and warned them to not bid. My first inclination was to write "fake signature" on the bidding sheets. My daughter talked me out of it, because she thinks we will get kicked out.

They were offering Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Lebron James, Aaron Rogers, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and Ted Williams. Just about every item was around $400 in the bidding.

Any suggestions? I was thinking about contacting the local newspaper, not really sure of anyone cares besides us. If you live in Arizona and have a Mountainside Fitness near you, go in and see if they have the same set up. Maybe if more people called to complain, they would do something.

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike P on August 23, 2014 at 12:57pm

This is just sad, but scammers know no bounds when it comes to peddling forgeries.

The same nonsense happens on cruise ships with autographs. People think fancy art auctions means that all of the autographs are authentic; it is a shame.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dom Vito Castiglione on August 23, 2014 at 5:45pm

I like how the site shows a picture of Bud Grant doing a private signing for their auctions, but I've never seen ONE ever auction to be of a Bud autographed framed piece. Why? Cause they know he's not a big name and wont't bring in the big dollars. From what I've seen over they years, they 100% only auction off elite sports figures and whatever is hot at the moment. Saw lots of Tebow and Jeremy Lin stuff a few years back and all of a sudden they stopped. Same goes with the entertainment forgeries. All the classics are there mixed in with all the hot current movies, tv shows and singers. They'll have a signed picture of Miley Cyrus, but not Ashley Simpson. They'll have a cast signed poster of Walking Dead, but not Blair Witch Project.

Years ago I remember stuff like this went on in the lobby of movie theaters. There was a guy used to set up a booth at local carnivals in the 90's and would sell binders of forgeries, baseballs, cards ect. He must have brought over 100 Jordan forgeries with him each time. He wanted $50 per 8x10 but could be talked down as low as $25. The amount of Griffey, Shaq, Cowboys forgeries this guy sold were unreal.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve on August 23, 2014 at 10:36pm

In the 90's, there was a company set up at the AMC Theaters here in Phoenix. They sold a ton of forgeries, (posters, photo's, movie items, sports, etc.). I contacted the Phoenix Republic newspaper and they came over to my house and did a story on the fake memorabilia. The next day, the company closed up shop at 6 locations.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dom Vito Castiglione on August 23, 2014 at 11:22pm

Wow, that is amazing! Great work by you Mr. Kahldon. It's amazing how some cheap people are, but then will spend hundreds of dollars on a forgery. Then they seem not to really care once they find out they have been had. Nobody fights back anymore. Just shrug and take the loss.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by CJCollector on August 24, 2014 at 5:17am

Nice job, Steve.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dom Vito Castiglione on August 25, 2014 at 3:24am

Somebody needs to put a stop to these charity scams!

ServicesHome

WhatWeDo

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rick Meyer on September 3, 2014 at 9:15am

Looks just like the setup these crooks display every year at the Barrett Jackson auto auction. Rich folks just plunking down money on blatant fakes. Barrett Jackson doesn't care, they get a nice fee for letting these goofs set up.

Last set up they did they had 8 different Howard Hughes autographs. All look like they were signed yesterday. Couldn't help but just laugh.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by John Kimball on August 25, 2014 at 5:27am

http://psasportsauctions.com/services/category/signings/

What does this tell us ? One photo being signed to hide all the fakes

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on August 25, 2014 at 6:29am

Stan's Sports, the nefarious and convicted Operation Bullpen seller, used to have full page ads in SCD. At the top of each ad they'd have a pic of Frank Crosetti or some other common signer doing a private signing.

Then, the listings below the pic of good old Frank signing were probably 98% fakes. "Hmmmm... Let's see... they had Frank Crosetti for a signing.... Yup.... the Ronald Reagan signed baseball bat MUST be real."

There is nothing new under the sun.