Complaint Review: Scott Hoffman

I had been bidding on some items that were on Overstock.com and they seemed unusually inexpensive. Thinking that I had stumbled upon a great deal, I proceeded to bid on them.

Needless to say, I was unlucky enough to win multiple items. I paid by check and received two boxes of baseballs that came with certificates of authenticity that were signed by Scott Hoffman, who goes by the name HOF Collectibles, Heroesofthegame or sportsauthenticapparel.

Without solicitation, he wrote me a direct email indicating that he was merging with another company and liquidating inventory. Never dreaming that someone could be a real life forge artist, I was duped again. This time for the tune of $255.00. My total loss came to close to $600.00.

When I tried to get my money back he did not respond. I tried to contact him at 402-346-8318 and nobody picked up.

I filed a case with the FBI, the Nebraska Attorney General's Office, and the Better Business Bureau. So far, I haven't heard a word back from any of them.

I didn't do business with him while he was on eBay that I am aware of, but a sportcards dealer informed me that he had been passing around forged and deceptive goods.

I asked him for my money back at that point. And he wanted to know why? Not any niceties or pleasantries about it, just "why"?

When I told him, he said to me that he requires that I send him back the original baseballs that I received (11). This is without him even talking about reimbursing me for my initial purchase let alone the new purchase that set me back $255.00

So at that point is when I decided to file papers against him. He has not responded but he has been kicked off of eBay and Overstock.

Overstock, being less reputable in my eyes, said that it's not their job to go after people and they gave me the FBI's website in which to file complaints to. So after having done that, I found out that he has done business on Overstock as Sportsauthenticapparel, Heroesofthegame, H.O.F.Collectibles.

His email address is a spoof because all it does is serve to forward it to another email address that he gets his email at. His yahoo address is hofsportscollectibles@yahoo.com

So the long and the short of it, is that I am out $600.00 and he is a forger living and feeding off of people who he can victimize.

He must be doing quite well, because when I looked at his Overstock numbers he had approximately 470 transactions or auctions.

Multiply that by an average of $75.00 per transaction and he's doing very well as a forgery artist.

The clue that gave it all away was the paper in which he sent the autographed baseballs on. One half was all white and the other card was decorated as if it were purchased in the local stationary store.

It was signed by him to top it all off!!! No independent authenticating body such as Beckett, Gem, etc...

I am anxiously awaiting for the Attorney General and the FBI to take appropriate action. As I told him in the letter, I will be more than happy to forward all of my autographed baseballs to the attorney general's office for authentication but as of yet he won't answer my calls or emails nor have I heard yet from the Nebraska AG office.

Lawrence
Suffern,, New York
U.S.A.