My name is Nick. I’m Pokémon Revolution on EBay. I haven’t posted anything public here yet, just have been a member and like to read up on everything that people post. I have information that could potentially help other members out from dealing with a huge scammer on eBay. There is a seller named “Gordobritt”. He mostly sells sealed booster packs from the WOTC era. He sells legitimate booster packs on eBay and receives plenty positive feedback regarding those purchases. He builds up a nice history of positive reviews so that he can scam people. Here is the problem. He sells 100% fake 1st edition base sealed booster boxes. He fills and places real 1st edition base wrappers with Spanish cards on the top layer. Underneath that is either fake or completely worthless cards. He then reseals the boxes. If someone messages him he will say that he will only do local pickup cash only. I unknowingly fell for his scam and lost my money on his fake box. It was a huge mistake in my end. The issue is that it did not stop with me…he is still scamming and going strong. If you look him up on eBay you will see that he is still listing and selling them to people stealing thousands of dollars. I have saved two other people on separate occasions from purchasing the boxes from him. Others have not been so lucky. This goes far beyond me and affects the entire community as a whole. I really want to make sure no one else is scammed like I was. My main goal is to help others avoid this scammer.
Below is a link to his latest box for sale. I am also very confident he uses multiple accounts as many of his listings share the exact same photos on other accounts. My advice…stay very far away from this guy. Gordobritt Fake First Edition Base Box
I am working with a lawyer on this and will be bringing him to court as I have his full name as well as plenty of evidence. I have also attached photos to this thread of the box I received, before and after opening. In the photos you can see how the packs were stuffed and taped closed. He does this a lot. Some other things he will do when meeting up are the following
* Uses a fake phone number
* Will want to meet at night most likely to make it much more difficult to check the product out properly.
* Will always be willing to drive to you if you are a serious buyer. Claims to be meeting up with family so no matter how far you are, if you are unwilling to drive/fly to him he will come to you. He drove over 9 hours to meet up with me in my town.
*Wears a baseball cap to partially cover his face
*Will claim to be in a rush. He got out of there very quick after payment was exchanged for the product.
Mainly the point of this entire thread is to be extremely careful when looking to purchase a 1st Edition Base Box. Even if the seller has great feedback it does not mean that you will be getting the real thing. Yes, there were other things I could have done to avoid this scam looking back now. Check the box weight and always make sure you are purchasing from someone highly reputable like collectors cache, da card world, or someone very knowledgeable and trustworthy. I would also recommend using ebay or at the very least paypal invoice so that if it is fake you will at least have a chance of getting your money back.
If anyone else has experienced this or knows someone that has had a similar scam done to them please feel free to contact me.
Keep us updated on what comes of the legal correspondence. It is unfortunate, though not unpredicted, that these types of scams are increasing in frequency. I would like there to be continued legal action taken against the people who pull such stunts. Additionally, the legal action helps with the legitimacy of such claims. A lot of claims like this are made but we can generally consider someone a lot more serious if they take real legal steps towards justice.
I will update this thread as it progresses. I was told that legal fees would probably cost in the range of what I lost. If it at least gets this guy to stop scamming then that alone would justify it for me. This scam happened to me about two months ago. Unfortunately that new listing of his was only posted a a day or two ago and is already getting a huge amount of inquires and watchers, with more potential buyers. He simply will find a cash buyer, make the exchange, and then re post another again.
you are dealing with a lawyer but legal recourse is there with law enforcement. This should be federal fraud and of concern. i know its pokemon but this is dealing with potentially 10s of thousands to upwards of $100k+
He must have seen this thread because he just messaged me. He is claiming that he bought the boxes all in bulk from someone. Apparently after selling the first one he realized they were all fake. He is STILL selling them knowing they are fake because he wants to get his money back from his investment. Pretty horrible if you ask me. No matter how you look at it, whether there is any true to that or if he is simply resealing boxes he is still scamming people and committing multiple criminal acts. This is so illegal. Not to mention I have yet to see a penny back from him. If he wanted to fix the situation the first thing a decent innocent person would do would be to pay the buyer back right away. Clearly he is not.
Glad you posted this publicly Nick. Unfortunately this is becoming more of a common pattern in the hobby. The 1st Ed base box is defintiely the most forged item in the hobby. Here is another thread in which the identical scenario occurred.
Let us know the result of this situation. Sorry you had to have this experience.
Dude, no kidding. He’s gonna have one hell of a time trying to explain that in court. I hope karma kicks him in the ass for you, and for everyone else he’s scammed.
If he has openly admitted to this behavior I highly recommend ceasing further communication with him, saving all existing conversation in a convenient format, and sitting on it while you go about the legal process. You have sufficient evidence to achieve your goals. It is shocking the number of small things you can say or do that make your case go sour. Once you have what you need to prosecute, it is best to say nothing more and do nothing more from there.
Just think if the person who purchases it doesn’t open the box then re-sells it later on and finds out then it was fake or tampered with. Is there a thread with information of the 1st edition boxes what to look for, weight, clear pictures of all sides etc? I’m talking with someone that “has one” that is located only an hour away from me.
Sorry this happened to you dude. At least it’s a lesson for the future that unless you’re dealing with a top reputable seller, you have to go the extra mile in verifying that the product you’re buying is genuine (or at least buy through a site that gives you buyer protection). Good on you to take him to court, parasites like these need to be stamped out of our community.
And by the way, don’t believe him for a second when he says that he “bought all the boxes from someone else.” That’s the classic defense of a scammer. Unless he can prove that he bought them like that from someone else, he’s probably lying about that too. And the fact that he won’t give you a refund and is still trying to sell these boxes makes this pretty much a certainty.
Really sorry you’re having to go through this, bud. Dude is a real scumbag, he probably gave a shit about Pokemon once upon a time which only makes the whole thing even more depressing.
I would say that after getting legal representation, to talk to them about this thread. Some of this information may be critical to the case, and may affect legal representations of this case.
Ive always found it strange how people think theyre above the law when it comes to things like pokemon that no one would ever care. I mean sure 10k isnt a collossal amount of money. Do it 10 times and youre at 100k. That is some heavy fraud! Right up there with company and credit card fraud and things like that…
I would only ever buy a 1st Base set box if I met the seller in person and they knew it was going to be unsealed in front of them. I hate to think about how many people have counterfeit/tampered boxes stored away in collections without even knowing they have been ripped off.
