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The 1990 Fleer Jose Uribe card isn’t worth more than $0.01 (if you can find a buyer) because it’s a nothing card from an overproduced set that only changes hands in bulk deals. Nobody ever buys this card as a standalone for the same reason they don’t buy others like it from similar sets – the time required to buy the card invalidates the acquisition. Even for collectors building the 1990 Fleer set, they can just buy the factory set or piece it together by buying bulk lots. This isn’t hard to do. There’s no reason to buy this card as a single. Unless, of course, you’re doing it in reminisce of that time in 2018 when someone listed one BIN for $758,000 and it eventually recorded a sale. How? Why? Let’s talk about money laundering.
Money laundering occurs when illegally obtained “dirty” money is converted into legal “clean” money by disguising its illegal origin so criminals can use it without drawing attention from the government.
In the case of the 1990 Fleer Jose Uribe card, here’s how it could have gone down.
The seller created an eBay account and listed the worthless card for thousands of dollars. An accomplice (or the same seller from a different computer using a different IP address) buys the card using the dirty money to record a sale. They would’ve needed to setup a unique bank account using a different Social Security number and home address. This is where the fraud starts.
This transaction changes the status of the money from dirty to clean and the seller can now claim the sale as legitimate.
eBay takes 13.25% of every sale of sports cards. The seller loses some amount of money; in the case of the $758,000 transaction, that’s a $100,435 fee. Since eBay reports seller incomes starting at the $20,000 threshold, this transaction would instantly create a paper trail via a 1099-K tax form and the seller would owe substantial income taxes.
Here’s where it gets even trickier and ultimately where the plan falls apart. Modern digital finance laws require eBay users to link verified bank accounts, Social Security numbers, and residential addresses, which means that law enforcement could easily find anyone. While law enforcement officials aren’t typically trading card experts, hobby experts could be hired to easily spot the fraud by comparing the six-figure sale to the one-cent actual value reality.
When people saw the completed sale of the worthless card, they took full advantage of it. Copycat sellers quickly capitalized on the viral trend. They listed their own copies for “bargain” prices ranging from $10,000 to $50,000. Unsuspecting, ill-informed buyers bought them in hopes of flipping them for massive profits, only to realize they had drastically overpaid for worthless cards.
Someone else tried to repeat this situation again with a 1989 Donruss Alex Madrid, but was unsuccessful since the market was wise to the scam by then.
These days, the 1990 Fleer Jose Uribe goes unsold on eBay at $1.00 BINs with free shipping and it’s still way overpriced.
Shop on eBay for the 1990 Fleer Jose Uribe
