As the hobby of sports cards grows, so does the allure of fraud in the hobby. In the early days, forging autographs was the fraud of choice. Now, people are inserting fake patches into cards. Ebay will suspend it's members that forge autographs, but they don't do a thing about those that fake patches, so I feel that it's our duty, as real collectors to make everyone aware of the problem.

One of the biggest patch fakers in the ebay community is zinger222 (others follow). If you just search through his bidding history, you'll see that he buys one-color jersey cards and NFL patches. If you watch his items for sale, you'll see almost nothing but team logo patch cards, some of them obvious:

fake  :: original  (Panthers jerseys do not have stitched logos!)

While others aren't:

fake  :: original

fake  :: original

There are two things you should do to protect yourself. First, make sure you know about what you're bidding on. A little research can go a long way. Find out what kinds of jersey pieces should be in the card you're bidding on. A card numbered to 200 isn't going to have the NFL Equipment patch in it. Second, just ask somebody. Many people at the Beckett Message Board () are very good at spotting fake patches. Just ask there before you bid and you'll feel better about your bid. Always remember, if something looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Bid smart; bid safe.

List of patch fakers:

zinger222
pristinesportscollectibles.inc
ilovegiove
Alex Mancini
apm-cards
xyankee61x
greightwhitehype
littletrain