Lee Hester of Lee's Comics in Mountain View CA has a warning about a scammer trying to rip off comic shop owners.

Please feel free to distribute this article. There is a scammer who is trying to bilk retailers, especially in the Bay Area.



On Saturday, I called a fellow who had called Richard at my Mountain
View store about some valuable comics that he was trying sell. He told
me that his name was Charlie Scott, and he used to live in Mountain
View. He now lived in Peoria, and was on disability. He said that he
used to deal with me, and he was calling me because he trusted me from
our past dealings. I didn’t remember him, but I wasn’t overly concerned
about that. I have dealt with many people over the years, and I do not
remember them all.



He told me that he had bid on a number of valuable comics from an
estate sale. The books included Showcase Comics starting with issue #4.
That is the first comic to feature Barry Allen as the Flash. He also
said that the collection included Incredible Hulk #1-6, Superboy
starting at issue #13, and some Men’s Adventure Comics.



His details were intriguing, because he was specific with the titles
and numbers. There was some really good stuff in there, along with some
not so good stuff. Just last week someone had called Shaun claiming
that he was going to bring in Action #1 and Detective #27, the first
Superman and Batman appearance respectively. I didn’t believe this for
a second, because it’s far too grandiose.



Then he told me that he bid on these during an estate sale. They went
for slightly over a hundred dollars. He didn’t have all the money, and
he still needed $32 to get the books, or they would go to the next
highest bidder. He was willing to let me have all the books for $300,
if I would just wire him the $32.




I told him that he should get the $32 together himself and buy the
books. If he did that, I would be happy to look them over and make him
a much more substantial offer. He could also submit them to any number
of other dealers in the country, who would pay handsomely for them.
Every time I tried to suggest that he try to raise the $32 himself, he
assured me that he had no way of getting that extra money. He was on
disability. His mom and dad were dead. He had no money, nothing of
value to sell etc. I finally told him that he really needed to get that
$32. That was his mission. Do or die. He told me that he would call me
the next day and let me know how it went.



That night I posted a notice about this situation on an internet group
called the Comic Book Industry Alliance, or CBIA. I posted it in the
private section that is only open to retailers. I asked other dealers
if they had been approached in this manner. I figured that if it was a
scam as I feared, it was only for a small amount, at least at first,
and that “Charlie” would likely make a number of similar pitches to
other dealers and get all the money he could before word got around.
After that, he would just disappear.



I was not surprised that I did not hear back from Charlie.



On Monday I got a call from Ryan Higgins, the owner of Comics
Conspiracy in Sunnyvale. He got the same kind of call from the same guy
offering the same books, and wanting the same amount, $32, wired so he
could get them. Charlie told Ryan that he used to live in the area, and
used to deal with him, and trusted him. Ryan didn’t remember Charlie
either. Ryan had already read my posting on the chat board about this.
He told Charlie that he doesn’t get many calls of this nature, and he
asked him if he had tried Lee’s Comics in Mountain View. Charlie told
Ryan that he had never heard of the place.



I was happy to hear from Ryan, because it confirmed my suspicions that
Charlie Scott from Peoria is trying to pull a scam. He is focusing on
the Bay Area, but he might try other areas as well.



It is very important to spread the word about this, as “Charlie” is
quite convincing and I would hate for any retailers to be taken in.




Lee Hester