A woman from Minnesota called me. She bought an “error” stamp from a company in Nevada for $1900. Someone told her that the stamp wasn’t worth very much. She was in a panic. She was looking for someone to give her the value of her stamp.

She emailed me a picture of her stamp. The “error” was a misperf on a pair of stamps of the FDR issue, Scott #1950. I am a member of the EFO Collectors Club and I’m familiar with EFO material. In my opinion, the misperf pair was worth about $50.

I wasn’t familiar with the name of the company she dealt with. I went online and searched on their name. Immediately, there were several postings from other customers who felt they were taken by this awful company. A quick search before buying would have told this woman to steer clear.

Here is the real kicker.

She told me that this company contacted her saying that they would buy this stamp back from her for $3000. Wow, that’s an $1100 profit and she only had this stamp a few months. Wait, that isn’t everything.

She could take the $3000 cash or (and this is the juicy part), if she kept her $3000 in the company and paid an additional $2000, they would see to it that she owns a stamp worth $9000. Sorry, I don’t know what stamp they were going to offer her. She didn’t say what it was.

She would get an $1100 profit. Who wouldn’t love that kind of money? This company has you hooked. But it’s all a farce.

What really happens is that she sent them $3900 for a stamp supposedly worth $9000. The “profit” from the first stamp was just funny accounting on paper. They have $3900 of her hard earned cash. And in my opinion, she’s holding a stamp worth far less.

If she decided to exit and pass up this irresistible deal to invest another $2000, I’m sure the company would have contacted her that she didn’t act fast enough and the buyer went away. The $3000 offer is now off the table.

Unfortunately, I think this woman is out her $1900 investment. If she had just done a simple internet search ahead of time, she would have seen the trouble looming on the horizon.

If someone approaches you with stamps for investment, I would steer clear. Too many people have been ripped off by these scam artists. There are a few legitimate stamp dealers who will work with you if you’re interested in investing in stamps. Here is the key point though. These legitimate dealers are out there and YOU go to them and they will try and guide you through material you’re interested in investing in. It’s the unscrupulous people who come to you touting their stamps for investment and trying to convince you that they have a great deal that you would be a fool to pass up. Beware!