Some guys will do anything to make a buck in the hobby.
During the 2000’s Topps released a set dubbed Topps 206. Randomly inserted into packs were buybacks of original T206 tobacco cards.
The scam centers around putting an authentic or counterfeit T206 card into a holder of a common card from the Topps 206 set.
Generally, collectors will pay a slight premium for the T206 buybacks over a regular T206.
So, in theory you would take a card like this:
Cut it up – as described in this process.
Buy a real T206 or come up with a fake one.
And then end up with this:
One scammer admitted to faking at least 75-80 cards dating back to 2009. His come to Jesus moment sparked a lengthy discussion on Net 54. The scammer goes by lharri3600 on eBay and has sold at least 12 T206 “Buybacks” from May-August.
Lharri3600 probably isn’t the only one involved in the scam. BGS card grader Andy Broome has identified several T206 buybacks that feature fake T206 cards. Â Broome wrote about the scam in 2014 and also tweeted about a fake Ty Cobb card shown below.
Good Lord there is so much nope here.
Fake #T206 Cobb in a @toppscards frame.#collect #thehobby pic.twitter.com/Sv6f10eRX4— Andy Broome (@broomewithaview) November 21, 2014
According to a former editor at Topps, the company did not keep track of which original T206 cards were used as buybacks.
