I first saw this seller on Reddit in late June selling Aurum, Aurum white gold, Gold monarchs, Silver players Arabesque and some other rare decks. I was super new to reddit and didn't have the 50 karma to interact in the playing card marketplace yet. So I reached out to him directly and asked if I could buy all 4 of the previously stated decks. He agreed and we agreed on 760 euros (which is almost 900 USD) So not a small purchase to say the least. I made sure that he sent me a goods and services payment voucher on PayPal since I didn't want to risk that much money on someone I wasn't to familiar with. I made the payment Tuesday June 23rd and he said he would send the decks Thursday June 25th and I was happy. Come Wednesday June 24th I got a message from him saying he cant send me the decks cause he lost to much in fees through Paypal, this instantly gave me a red flag, he was asking for another 60 euros to cover the losses and the shipping. I didn't want to lose out on the decks over shipping so I paid the extra he was asking. This time I sent as family and friends so he didn't have fees. I did tell myself if he comes back after this and hasn't sent them I am done with this transaction. But anyway, he got the extra money, thanked me and said I will love the decks and he will send them tomorrow which would have been Thursday the 25th. So Thursday comes and I have no message from him, I ask if everything went ok, no response. Also no response through that weekend. He writes me on June 27th and this is what he says:
"Hello! I just made you the first refund because in looking for the decks of cards I didn't find the aurum set. currently I only have gold monarchs and silver arabesque if you are interested. I'm really sorry but I wasted this time because I couldn't find the aurum
if you are no longer interested, I will also refund the € 65 you sent me for shipping
forgive me
joseph_magic90 Snoovatar
joseph_magic9001:35 AM
if you are interested in gold monarchs and silver arabesque I will make them for 250 € shipping included (65 € you have already sent them to me so 185 € are missing) let me know something
I also have the silver monarchs the white gold and the Jerry nugget reserve if you are interested
if you want I can give you my Instagram profile so you can hear us"
So he refunds the money I insisted that we have "pay for services" (thank god by the way, that was the one I cared most about). As you can see from his reply he literally was using my money to try and FIND the decks I wanted. He had no intention of selling me the decks he had but rather looking for additional decks. This is the most shady thing I have seen in the collecting game.
Anyway, so I say no thank you The Aurum set was really the point of me reaching out and please refund my shipping payment. I think since he realized that I wasn't going to be sending anymore money through family and friends he ghosted me. Stopped answering my DM's. Funny side story, I was selling some decks on Ebay and someone reached out to see if I could sell them a deck offline, turns out it was him and I called him out on it and how he needs to send me back that 60 euros for shipping. Ghosted again.
So that is the story, I did tell him that I was going to report him through Reddit and also post this review on UC. I also told him I was going to let Lotrek, Stockholm, and Paul Carpenter know that he is a scammer. And all for 60 euros. I see him on Encardeds Patreon and just called him out again for scamming publicly.
I really dont expect or care about the 60 euros anymore, But I will do my best to shine light on this guy to try and make his collecting harder. Oh ya, another fun tidbit, I was looking through his instagram and guess who is all over his posts like they are good friends? Enalfonzo and Luca Palas. Just another fun fact.
Here are his handles:
Instagram italian_playingcard
Reddit Joseph_Magic90
Ebay nadia5737 (I have gone in and blocked him from being able to purchase any of my Ebay sales)
UC - Masterpino (I am sure its him from the people who are reaching out to me and the same things he is selling here and on Ebay beeeeeee careful
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
I have all the receipts with the Reddit convo as well as the Paypal transactions if I need to post that for clarity and confirmation but ya. BEWARE of him. His real name from Paypal payments is GIUSEPPE URSO
Feel free to let me know if you think I am handling this poorly by calling him out in the community. I just think everyone should know. I dont expect Lotrek, Paul, or Lorenzo to really do anything from their end but I figure I will shine light on this dirt bag.
Thanks,
Panda