Cartel 241 Cert Shenanigans

I do not believe it is about laundering money in the traditional sense (needing to obfuscate cash income due to illegal activities). I think he is playing the odds, that about 50% of his sales are to himself. Selling to himself fulfills several objectives.
1. It generates sales activity and feedbacks; both of these help raise confidence in buyers.
2. Shill bidding allows him to buy a $1000 stamp at auction but then turn around and start it online at $0.01 with zero risk.
3. It allows him to dodge taxes (and he has recently been in all kinds of legal trouble in Britain for this).
4. It also allow him to 'cook the books' and build several businesses which he might be able to sell in the future.

I think he has more real sales then some think; the majority of victims are not willing to reveal themselves due to embarrassment. Others are probably clueless and continue to think that they got a 'good deal' and simply mount his altered material in their albums. This plays right into his hand since less awareness allows him to maintain his scamming. The philatelic press has also been a total and abysmal failure in creating awareness as has the major philatelic organizations. By sticking their collective heads in the sand and not creating awareness of this kind of scamming they are doing a disservice to the hobby.

Another thing that help scammers are hobbyists who like to summarize the issue with 'buyer beware' and/or feel that getting ripped off is part of the 'education' of the hobby. I also think that some folks believe it is wrong to ever say anything negative about the hobby.

My opinion is that increasing awareness and educating hobbyists on how to identify a quality seller is paramount. I also think that much more work needs to be done on communicating how to build a solid relationship with a seller. This was something that many took for granted in the 'brick and mortar' dealers era but seems to have been lost in the transition the hobby has made to online.
Don

It's not an all-or-nothing proposition. It's a two-headed beast. Yes, it is (potentially) money laundering on a large scale, but in addition, many of the stamps are fakes or altered, so when the shill account does manage to get outbid, they are making money on the actual product. Bonus.

But make no mistake about it, they most certainly ARE about deceiving and cheating people.

Stallzer - Here are some cartel deceptions. There are just so many. Read within the threads to hear directly from SCF members that were ripped off by the cartel. Your continuous statements that the convicted felon Philip Ryle is not out to cheat and deceive is puzzling to say the least.

https://goscf.com/t/62249&SearchTerms=Cartel

https://goscf.com/t/54509&SearchTerms=Cartel

https://goscf.com/t/53047&SearchTerms=Cartel

https://goscf.com/t/48813&SearchTerms=Cartel

There is no logical reason to sell the same stamp 4 times other than as I stated. And as I also stated if and when a stamp finally sells due to a collector actually out bidding their shill account they make huge profits. I'm 99.9% sure they aren't sitting at their keyboard mashing keys for last second bids on auctions ending. They are using sniping software and the shill accounts plug in an outrageous amount when the said item is listed. Yes, some collector could outbid the shill depending on what % the shill is set on listing. The doctoring and altering is most probably done to increase the amount of money that can be "cleaned". This isn't a petty thief trying to fleece a collector out of $75.

I'm confused, isn't everybody saying the same thing?

I used to periodically analyze ebay sales, but in the US category the cartel accounted for almost all the sales over $1000 and was skewing the data beyond repair. I suspected their efforts weren't limited to the US which made my analysis pointless. It amazes me they keep coming back.

Rogcam, I realize you like to believe this is all about collectors getting fleeced and that collectors want to believe it's about doing the unthinkable altering to stamps but this is a very well documented individual. I don't usually post links to other sites but this might open your eyes. This thread started 6 years ago.

http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopi...3&hilit=Odet

To me it's quite obvious.

KRylyea, you are correct that this isn't limited to US sales.

My eyes are wide open. Trust me.