Stamp Collectors Against Dodgy Sellers
(SCADS)

Scams

March 23, 2007

Reporting suspect items to eBay and the SCW

If you see a questionable item on eBay and you want it investigated by the Stamps Community Watch group (SCW), follow these simple steps to maximize the chances of your report getting through to them.

April 28, 2006

David Holt is using alias Vladimir Kosov to scam buyers of antique clocks and watches as well as rare books. See the details here.

April 6, 2006

David Holt is using new alias Vladimir Kosov of St Petersburg, Russia to perpetrate his rare book scams. Details here.

October 15, 2004

Buyers are still being caught by sellers who use scans and descriptions from other auctions to sell material they don't possess. Be more alert for the warning signs by reading about three image stealing scams which were reported to SCADS in the last month.

August 12, 2004

David Holt has moved to Canada and is now using the alias Maksim Obuhov to perpetrate his rare book scams. Read the details here.

June 5, 2004

Chicago Tribune publishes article on Holt

Article published by Chicago Tribune on David Holt, who perpetrated an image stealing scam in the stamps community early last year. Read the details here.

March 23, 2003

Swiss image stealing scam: - Karl Fisher and Frederik Buwe are David Holt

Karl Fisher and Frederik Buwe have been determined to be aliases of convicted book felon David Holt. After his release for prison three years ago, Holt has been defrauding and attempting to defraud the bookselling community under a variety of different names, and has threatened two ABAA members. Holt has now turned his attention to the philatelic community. Read the details here.

March 8, 2003

Swiss image stealing scam - Karl Fisher, Frederik Buwe

In February, collectors and dealers received emails from a person calling himself Karl Fisher of Zermatt, Switzerland, with offers of stamps and covers at substantially discounted prices. The scans attached to these emails were found to have been stolen from various websites. In March, emails offering the same items were sent by Frederik Buwe, who purports to be from Lugano. Read the details here.

October 9, 2002

Seller 'mbaker7662' - 'big con' plus shilling

August 18, 2002

Seller "chenandcompany" - brokerage without consent

Members of Richard Frajola's philately board discovered a set of eBay auctions containing scans duplicated from an Australian auction house website. It appears that the seller did not own the items in his listings, but was planning to buy them in the upcoming auction! Read the latest details here.

September 11, 2002

Seller 'mabgsl' - image stealing

Members of Richard Frajola's philately board discovered a set of eBay auctions with rare and expensive items. The seller's feedback had been built up over a long period with low value transactions, but suddenly many rare stamps and other expensive merchandise was listed for sale.

Eagle-eyed philatelists recognized that several of the scans had been lifted from Stanley Gibbon's online catalog, a major publisher and dealer based in UK. Read the latest details here.