Biggest stitch up down the years

[pizzathehutt]

i bought about 15 loosies from the modellers loft about 6 years ago and then months later found out that every one had a repro weapon

 

[spoons]

So e bad stories on here - Grant did you not set the police on the jacket and MOC guys, they shouldn't get away with that

 

[lejackal]

Bump

 

[welshwookie]

I would agree with Hothrebel with TT.

 

[edd_jedi]

This is old news, but if you joined this forum in the last 5 years you may not know that back in 2007 I had a large amount of my collection stolen in a burglary (60ish MOCs and a few other bits.) They were stored at my parents house as I had recently moved to London, and I thought they would be safer at home the thieves knew exactly what they were stealing as they cherry-picked the expensive things like Yak Face, graded figures etc and most of what they left was the less valuable stuff. It was reported in a couple of newspapers and the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7024796.stm

They were not recovered so I got an insurance payout, albiet one I wasn't very happy with (I estimated what was stolen was worth about 10k, and I only got 6k.) I spent it on a car and pretty much gave up on collecting for quite a few years.

5 years later in 2012, Joe (one of the old moderators on this forum) noticed one of my stolen figures on eBay. It was traced back to a well known collector called Ben who also happened to be friends with my younger brother and lived in the same town as my parents. It was never proven that he stole them, he claimed he bought them at a car boot sale, but he still had ten of them in his possession which I eventually got back from the police. The case was dropped due to a lack of evidence. I think that counts as a stitch up!

 

[Snaketibe]

What a horrible thing to happen to you, Edd. I'm glad you got at least some of the MOCs back, but what a despicable thieving bastard the scumbag who took them was! :evil:

 

[Wreck-It Ralph]

This is old news, but if you joined this forum in the last 5 years you may not know that back in 2007 I had a large amount of my collection stolen in a burglary (60ish MOCs and a few other bits.) They were stored at my parents house as I had recently moved to London, and I thought they would be safer at home the thieves knew exactly what they were stealing as they cherry-picked the expensive things like Yak Face, graded figures etc and most of what they left was the less valuable stuff. It was reported in a couple of newspapers and the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7024796.stm

They were not recovered so I got an insurance payout, albiet one I wasn't very happy with (I estimated what was stolen was worth about 10k, and I only got 6k.) I spent it on a car and pretty much gave up on collecting for quite a few years.

5 years later in 2012, Joe (one of the old moderators on this forum) noticed one of my stolen figures on eBay. It was traced back to a well known collector called Ben who also happened to be friends with my younger brother and lived in the same town as my parents. It was never proven that he stole them, he claimed he bought them at a car boot sale, but he still had ten of them in his possession which I eventually got back from the police. The case was dropped due to a lack of evidence. I think that counts as a stitch up!

There are some terrible stories on this thread but for me Edd's is the worst. I can't imagine how that must have felt when you saw half your collection had been stolen and to find out years later it was probably stolen by a fellow collector and friend of the family. I am not sure what you call a person that does something like that as SCUM doesn't seem a strong enough word to me! The only positive I can take from a situation like that is the fact you returned to collecting as most people would have thrown the towel in after **** like happened.!

 

[theforceuk]

This is old news, but if you joined this forum in the last 5 years you may not know that back in 2007 I had a large amount of my collection stolen in a burglary (60ish MOCs and a few other bits.) They were stored at my parents house as I had recently moved to London, and I thought they would be safer at home the thieves knew exactly what they were stealing as they cherry-picked the expensive things like Yak Face, graded figures etc and most of what they left was the less valuable stuff. It was reported in a couple of newspapers and the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7024796.stm

They were not recovered so I got an insurance payout, albiet one I wasn't very happy with (I estimated what was stolen was worth about 10k, and I only got 6k.) I spent it on a car and pretty much gave up on collecting for quite a few years.

5 years later in 2012, Joe (one of the old moderators on this forum) noticed one of my stolen figures on eBay. It was traced back to a well known collector called Ben who also happened to be friends with my younger brother and lived in the same town as my parents. It was never proven that he stole them, he claimed he bought them at a car boot sale, but he still had ten of them in his possession which I eventually got back from the police. The case was dropped due to a lack of evidence. I think that counts as a stitch up!

There are some terrible stories on this thread but for me Edd's is the worst. I can't imagine how that must have felt when you saw half your collection had been stolen and to find out years later it was probably stolen by a fellow collector and friend of the family. I am not sure what you call a person that does something like that as SCUM doesn't seem a strong enough word to me! The only positive I can take from a situation like that is the fact you returned to collecting as most people would have thrown the towel in after **** like happened.!

Yes this is by far the worst story I have heard in collecting and I agree not sure if I could carry on after this. I guess the collecting bug will always resurface at some point. I have always had nightmares about story's like this, but to go through it, awfull.

 

[Wreck-It Ralph]

I got stitched up back in 2002/03 with my first collection. I started out collecting loose figures after I got the first 96 I then moved onto Droids and Ewoks, then variations and finally prototypes. I saw an advert in Model Mart for prototype figures for sale so I contacted the guy and started negotiating a deal. One time he rang me and my partner answered the phone as I was doing something and before she passed me the phone she said I don't like the sound of that guy, unfortunately I dismissed it as her being too sensitive. I think the deal was for four prototype non painted figures one being a non painted Boba Fett (fixed rocket, standard figure). The guy insisted on me sending cash to the amount of around a £1000 in the post which I foolishly agreed to. When the figures turned up they were in a small plastic box with a lid on, when I opened the lid they absolutely stunk of whatever he had used to remove the paint from standard production figures. I contacted the guy, even sent letters to him but never got my money back. It was an out and out scam and I was the sucker.

I mentioned this story a couple of years ago in a post not long after I had joined the forum and was told the guy that conned me was a forum member that turned bad.

 

[Ruby2511]

Marrying my first wife :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[coomber75]

Marrying my first wife :shock: :shock: :shock:

:lol: ditto cost meva loose collection and moc :lol:

 

[StarWarsFan]

This is old news, but if you joined this forum in the last 5 years you may not know that back in 2007 I had a large amount of my collection stolen in a burglary (60ish MOCs and a few other bits.) They were stored at my parents house as I had recently moved to London, and I thought they would be safer at home the thieves knew exactly what they were stealing as they cherry-picked the expensive things like Yak Face, graded figures etc and most of what they left was the less valuable stuff. It was reported in a couple of newspapers and the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7024796.stm

They were not recovered so I got an insurance payout, albiet one I wasn't very happy with (I estimated what was stolen was worth about 10k, and I only got 6k.) I spent it on a car and pretty much gave up on collecting for quite a few years.

5 years later in 2012, Joe (one of the old moderators on this forum) noticed one of my stolen figures on eBay. It was traced back to a well known collector called Ben who also happened to be friends with my younger brother and lived in the same town as my parents. It was never proven that he stole them, he claimed he bought them at a car boot sale, but he still had ten of them in his possession which I eventually got back from the police. The case was dropped due to a lack of evidence. I think that counts as a stitch up!

Sorry to hear that Edd, that's terrible.

 

[StarWarsFan]

I got stitched up back in 2002/03 with my first collection. I started out collecting loose figures after I got the first 96 I then moved onto Droids and Ewoks, then variations and finally prototypes. I saw an advert in Model Mart for prototype figures for sale so I contacted the guy and started negotiating a deal. One time he rang me and my partner answered the phone as I was doing something and before she passed me the phone she said I don't like the sound of that guy, unfortunately I dismissed it as her being too sensitive. I think the deal was for four prototype non painted figures one being a non painted Boba Fett (fixed rocket, standard figure). The guy insisted on me sending cash to the amount of around a £1000 in the post which I foolishly agreed to. When the figures turned up they were in a small plastic box with a lid on, when I opened the lid they absolutely stunk of whatever he had used to remove the paint from standard production figures. I contacted the guy, even sent letters to him but never got my money back. It was an out and out scam and I was the sucker.

I mentioned this story a couple of years ago in a post not long after I had joined the forum and was told the guy that conned me was a forum member that turned bad.

blimey bastard

 

[StarWarsFan]

Mime was getting barred from a Sci Fi event cause a bastard I had help many times on his stall accused me of swapping a broken figure for one of his "mint" ones. His figures are some of the most horrible, manky, disgusting beaters you could ever hope to see most yellowed stinking of fags and mould. Charging the earth for them, he asked me to watch his stall, while watching it I noticed someone had broken the head off a medical droid, when he got back i informed him and though nothing of it. Fast forward to last April and get a very rude and nasty e-mail from the guy who runs the Sci Fi saying your barred due to someone putting a complaint in about you. Had a gut feeling who it was as he had started ignoring my texts and calls so go round his flat and thats when he accused me of what i was suppose to have done. ****ing old **** after all I did for him over the years. Same with the guy who runs the Sci Fi he really isn't a nice guy very arrogant and nasty even though I had volunteered two years running, there are some right ****ing cunts out there.

Also a guy I was sort of mates with use to have a shop always claimed he was skint and had no money go to his shop face was always like a slapped arse use to buy things sometimes just to help him. If I was selling he would offer **** all for them and like an idiot I would agree to that price. As I got older he always had more stock and got me thinking if your so skint how the **** are you getting all this stuff. In the end he get rid of the shop and puts it all on eBay. I mention to someone he now sells on ebay and cause of that he falls out with me. Again all the years I had bought things from him in his shop. Tried to make it up with him but his words were "get away from me". Do see him walking around town still looking like a slapped ass pathetic ****.

 

[Snaketibe]

I had a narrow escape many years ago (early 90's) when the owner of a local collectibles shop where I'd spent quite a bit getting back into collecting vintage Star Wars, rang me at home. He had previously compiled a data base of his 'best' customers' details, and like an idiot, I had given him mine. He rang me late afternoon / early evening one day and informed me that two people had come into his shop trying to sell an 'original pair of double-telescoping Vader and Ben' figures'. They wanted too much for them for the shop owner to be interested (they wanted to exchange them for a full, complete loose set of last 17 plus an extra Yak or Luke Storm), so he gave them my details! I must say that I was a lot younger then, and clearly rather naive in this instance, as I had misgivings about it anyway, but when they rang me, I agreed to meet with them as I wanted the DT figures for my collection and had a spare set of what they wanted to exchange for them.

Within the hour, two fairly big blokes turned up at my house. I didn't know who they really were or where they were from, but they came in and produced a pair of absolutely pristine loose DT Vader and Ben figures, each in its own clear plastic snap-shut box. I'd got the last 17 figures ready and they were laid out on the table, and the two men eyed and fingered them greedily. The problem was, when I carefully examined the 'DT' Ben, I noticed pink paint on the inside of the plastic box next to one of his hands, just like you'd expect to see if the figure had been freshly touched up with paint and popped in there before it had completely dried.

I was suddenly very aware that I had two conmen in my house (and I was alone in the house at the time), with a pair of almost certainly fake, touched up figures (because if the paint was new, why would the DT sabers be real?), and they were trying to swap them for a valuable set of 18 figures. I then proceeded to try to extricate myself from this decidedly unpleasant situation by very politely explaining that whilst I was 'sure' they thought the DT figures were genuine (I was actually sure they knew perfectly well that they were no such thing), I just didn't have the knowledge to know for a fact that they were the real thing, as I simply wasn't expert enough, and so would have to reluctantly pass on the occasion, etc., etc., bullshit, bullshit.

To this day, I still feel very lucky they didn't simply try to overpower me and steal my figures, but I also had the presence of mind to mention more than once 'in passing' that the shop owner had seen them (read, 'got a good look at their faces'), and fortunately they eventually, if reluctantly, ****ed off out of my house empty-handed.

I may make mistakes, but I learn from them. I reported what had happened to the shop owner (who had the good grace to be a little embarrassed), and I have never put myself in a similar position again. Also, when I moved house a couple of years later, I didn't give the owner my new details ;-)

 

[StarWarsFan]

I had a narrow escape many years ago (early 90's) when the owner of a local collectibles shop where I'd spent quite a bit getting back into collecting vintage Star Wars, rang me at home. He had previously compiled a data base of his 'best' customers' details, and like an idiot, I had given him mine. He rang me late afternoon / early evening one day and informed me that two people had come into his shop trying to sell an 'original pair of double-telescoping Vader and Ben' figures'. They wanted too much for them for the shop owner to be interested (they wanted to exchange them for a full, complete loose set of last 17 plus an extra Yak or Luke Storm), so he gave them my details! I must say that I was a lot younger then, and clearly rather naive in this instance, as I had misgivings about it anyway, but when they rang me, I agreed to meet with them as I wanted the DT figures for my collection and had a spare set of what they wanted to exchange for them.

Within the hour, two fairly big blokes turned up at my house. I didn't know who they really were or where they were from, but they came in and produced a pair of absolutely pristine loose DT Vader and Ben figures, each in its own clear plastic snap-shut box. I'd got the last 17 figures ready and they were laid out on the table, and the two men eyed and fingered them greedily. The problem was, when I carefully examined the 'DT' Ben, I noticed pink paint on the inside of the plastic box next to one of his hands, just like you'd expect to see if the figure had been freshly touched up with paint and popped in there before it had completely dried.

I was suddenly very aware that I had two conmen in my house (and I was alone in the house at the time), with a pair of almost certainly fake, touched up figures (because if the paint was new, why would the DT sabers be real?), and they were trying to swap them for a valuable set of 18 figures. I then proceeded to try to extricate myself from this decidedly unpleasant situation by very politely explaining that whilst I was 'sure' they thought the DT figures were genuine (I was actually sure they knew perfectly well that they were no such thing), I just didn't have the knowledge to know for a fact that they were the real thing, as I simply wasn't expert enough, and so would have to reluctantly pass on the occasion, etc., etc., bullshit, bullshit.

To this day, I still feel very lucky they didn't simply try to overpower me and steal my figures, but I also had the presence of mind to mention more than once 'in passing' that the shop owner had seen them (read, 'got a good look at their faces'), and fortunately they eventually, if reluctantly, ****ed off out of my house empty-handed.

I may make mistakes, but I learn from them. I reported what had happened to the shop owner (who had the good grace to be a little embarrassed), and I have never put myself in a similar position again. Also, when I moved house a couple of years later, I didn't give the owner my new details ;-)

Blimey that's scary.

 

[Wreck-It Ralph]

I had a narrow escape many years ago (early 90's) when the owner of a local collectibles shop where I'd spent quite a bit getting back into collecting vintage Star Wars, rang me at home. He had previously compiled a data base of his 'best' customers' details, and like an idiot, I had given him mine. He rang me late afternoon / early evening one day and informed me that two people had come into his shop trying to sell an 'original pair of double-telescoping Vader and Ben' figures'. They wanted too much for them for the shop owner to be interested (they wanted to exchange them for a full, complete loose set of last 17 plus an extra Yak or Luke Storm), so he gave them my details! I must say that I was a lot younger then, and clearly rather naive in this instance, as I had misgivings about it anyway, but when they rang me, I agreed to meet with them as I wanted the DT figures for my collection and had a spare set of what they wanted to exchange for them.

Within the hour, two fairly big blokes turned up at my house. I didn't know who they really were or where they were from, but they came in and produced a pair of absolutely pristine loose DT Vader and Ben figures, each in its own clear plastic snap-shut box. I'd got the last 17 figures ready and they were laid out on the table, and the two men eyed and fingered them greedily. The problem was, when I carefully examined the 'DT' Ben, I noticed pink paint on the inside of the plastic box next to one of his hands, just like you'd expect to see if the figure had been freshly touched up with paint and popped in there before it had completely dried.

I was suddenly very aware that I had two conmen in my house (and I was alone in the house at the time), with a pair of almost certainly fake, touched up figures (because if the paint was new, why would the DT sabers be real?), and they were trying to swap them for a valuable set of 18 figures. I then proceeded to try to extricate myself from this decidedly unpleasant situation by very politely explaining that whilst I was 'sure' they thought the DT figures were genuine (I was actually sure they knew perfectly well that they were no such thing), I just didn't have the knowledge to know for a fact that they were the real thing, as I simply wasn't expert enough, and so would have to reluctantly pass on the occasion, etc., etc., bullshit, bullshit.

To this day, I still feel very lucky they didn't simply try to overpower me and steal my figures, but I also had the presence of mind to mention more than once 'in passing' that the shop owner had seen them (read, 'got a good look at their faces'), and fortunately they eventually, if reluctantly, ****ed off out of my house empty-handed.

I may make mistakes, but I learn from them. I reported what had happened to the shop owner (who had the good grace to be a little embarrassed), and I have never put myself in a similar position again. Also, when I moved house a couple of years later, I didn't give the owner my new details ;-)

Now that is what you call a lucky escape!

 

[Section 8]

I bought a VC jawa a good few years ago for around £5 and realised it was a repro cape and gun straight away. It displayed well but didn't really want to keep it in my collection. It looked pretty like an original so I just sold it to an unwitting upstart for £120 a few weeks later.

I had a bloody great time with the money so hope this happy story cheers you up a bit.

Anyone reading this 5 years later. Yes, I was joking.