Card cleaner @RocketCollects on Instagram is openly altering cards and grading them

Grading
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This page was posting videos of card ”cleaning” and ”repairing”, as well as grading results with certs visible. After PSA recently started deactivating certs of altered cards, such as the 8.5(previously a 7) Torchic Gold Star that sold for $1850 on eBay last week, they deleted their instagram page. (Edit: Apparently not, I just got blocked because I questioned what they were doing) Their TikTok is still up however. Here are a few videos showcasing cards being altered and graded with certs visible:

I took screenshots of some of the slabs in case they delete the videos, but I don’t have TikTok, so I haven’t gone through the entire profile. I think we should go through the profile and document every slab with an altered card before they delete the TikTik page as well. Perhaps someone else is way ahead of me and has done this already, just wanted to give this some exposure so people can be on the lookout for these slabs on eBay and the like.

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Edit: some of the images came out a bit blurry, here are the certs:

0016837342 - Alto Mare’s Latios

0016820867 - 1st edition Dark Charizard

0016837321 - Latios & Latias GX Tag Team

0016837322 - Burning Shadows Rainbow Charizard

0016527845 - CFTD Sabrina’s Gengar

0016527846 - CFTD Blaine’s Charizard

Fwiw, BGS should probably look into and potentially deactivate every card submitted by this person. This stuff really needs to be discouraged by the grading companies. I’d rather have an unaltered PSA 7 than even a former 9 that was ”cleaned” and regraded as a 10.

Edit: looks like the Instagram page is up again:

Who knows for how long. They seem to be using mainly BGS, so perhaps they think they’re largely unaffected by PSA cracking down on altered cards. Beckett do slab altered cards, but don’t grade them, they just give it the “authentic altered” label like CGC. These certs need to be reported to BGS, as the videos show clear evidence of the cards being altered. There really shouldn’t be anything stopping these cards from being deactivated until they’re reslabbed.

Edit #2: Apparently the Instagram page was never deleted in the first place, I was simply blocked and couldn’t acess the page, my bad :sweat_smile:. Either way, it’s a topic that needs some exposure. Changing the title to reflect this.

18 Likes
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Glad to see PSA taking some sort of action. Cleaning cards was starting to get way too much traction, I was worried for a second that it would become normalised.

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I dont know if this is “good” though in a way.

PSA still graded the altered cards…so it’s not like they found a way to detect if a card has been cleaned or polished

If anything the cleaning community will just go underground now and keep quiet. All they’ve done is deactivate certs of people looking for clout after cleaning.

11 Likes
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They acknowledge the issue at least so hopefully they started looking at solutions to detect it

10 Likes
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Yep. This at the very least proves that PSA does care about this being done to cards enough to deactivate the certs.

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Real strange that PSA didnt deactivate the 1/1 Wemby black refractor that the owner shouted out Kurts Card Care for in California :roll_eyes: :roll_eyes: :roll_eyes: Wonder why they didnt do that as well… :roll_eyes: :roll_eyes: :roll_eyes: Not like they dont have any ulterior motive on that one.

https://www.psacard.com/cert/88489182 for those interested…yes its still active

13 Likes
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Good on them - about time! Now they need to figure out how to detect it when grading…

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Wow, was not expecting PSA to do that. @charizardespana you called it.

2 Likes
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While this is obviously being used for nefarious reasons I do find it neat especially looking down the road as non graded cards enter into circulation in crustier and crustier states of love.

(Crusty as in old not used sock)

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at least underground and quiet is better than normalized and mainstream ig? some subset of people were always going to do this, so at least PSA is making it clear that it’s not acceptable

1 Like
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The FBI got involved with that whole card trimming fiasco years ago. I fail to see how stuff like this is much different. It’s blatant fraud that only exists because Pokemon still isn’t taken seriousily. That can and will change at a moments notice. The idiots like this that showcase this stuff for all to see will be made examples of.

It’s one thing to do it for a card you plan to keep for yourself. It’s another thing to do it to squeeze an extra 0 out of somebody. When that extra 0 is squeezed from the wrong person, then it’s game over.

6 Likes
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What I think is more worrisome though is the fact that PSA graded and sent back the cards like nothing was wrong/detected.

At least when people are posting their cleanings, it gives more data on the cards most “cleaners” are targeting/what to look in potential doctored/cleaned cards.

I saw it more as a “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer”

But yes, it does seem PSA took a stance. A little weird that the Wemby card that shouted out Kurt’s cert is still active. IMO should be consistent across the board…especially if they’re trying to take a hard stance.

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Their YouTube channel is still up with videos showing all this. I’m sure they’ll get deleted as well. It really sucks for the buyer of the gold star torchic. The card is no longer recognized by PSA. That buyer is technically out the $1850 or whatever it was bought for. Guess he could crack and submit to BGS but then it’s still an altered card no matter if it’s slabbed or chilling in a binder. The fact the card was altered won’t change.

1 Like
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Wait what? Have a link to the story.? That’s crazy

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I’m glad to see PSA acting on some of these cards but it is a little too late.

There are likely millions of these cards in circulation from sports to Pokémon.

That being said, my personal stance is card cleaning aka polishing a card holo before grading inst altering - but doing restoration such as “dent removal work” etc is.

Rocketcollect was/is doing significant restoration work - and whilst it is cool to see, should never have sent those cards for grading.

Most likely someone will buy those cards down the road without any knowledge of the “restoration” work carried out.

2 Likes
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Can’t believe the FBI really took the case anywhere to be honest.

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Not to mention no one knows how the cards will age with this polish/cleaning methods.

Similar in the 30’s and 40’s it was common practice for people to lacquer autographed baseballs. Lacquering is a clear coat that was intended to add protection/preservation, but turned a gross yellow over time.

Who knows how this will age!

5 Likes
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I would argue that polishing is very much altering, as it removes original material from the card. In my opinion, it’s really no different from trimming in principle. The only kind of card cleaning I would be fine with is literally removing dirt or other foreign substances from the card.

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Imo that is a misconception.

The polish doesn’t remove anything from the card and you cannot get rid of scratches or print lines (trust me, I’ve tried).

I have personal experience of using it on PSA 7 Wotc cards I cracked for my binder. Doesn’t do shit, just makes the holo shine a bit more but the scratches and print lines are absolutely still there and very visible - so I stopped using it.

A lot of people use water and a qué tip to remove debris from cards - but quickly wipe it away. Same thing with card polish.

People who say otherwise or that it can perform miracles a) haven’t used the product or b) listen too much to Kurt

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The difference is is that those old cards were basically paper with no surface film.

It’s why a lot of the old cards had clear issues after using water on them (Pokémon doesn’t have this issue).

I’m not an expert but I imagine Pokémon cards are made differently.