Be Wary of FAKES! Counterfeiting Source Revealed

[MissMouse1928]

Update on source of fakes
It has been confirmed that the source of the fakes is known as:
webdoc/notscam on vinylnation.net, as well as on our site,
e-mail: zhchelsea0513@gmail.com
e-mail: hzby2011@gmail.com
e-mail: zhongfanghua@yahoo.com
Ebay name - numerounobaby
Ken Hans
Ken Hann
Zhong Fang Hu
Location: Pomona, CA
PayPal name: Yun Jie Ji

One of our active members came forward with a story last week that is not the kind I enjoy reporting.  I was asked not to share the information right away as the member was still in the process of recovering high dollar Vinylmations that had been traded for FAKES. 

These are different from scrappers, they are worse than that. Fakes - made specifically to deceive unsuspecting collectors. 
They even came with fake cards.  The figures involved in this trade were Park 1 Balloon Chaser and Park 1 Kermit.
Had this member not had a real Kermit to compare to, the differences would have been difficult if not impossible to detect.

What is even more unfortunate is that this is not an isolated incident by any means.  It seems this has already affected several members of the vinyl community.  There are claims being made involving a fake Urban 1 Gold chaser and a fake Park 1 Figment.

**In the few days since putting this story together, we've received information on where the fakes are coming from. You'll find it at the bottom of this post.**

Here are some photos and descriptive information to help you distinguish authentic, from fake.  Scroll to bottom for name of counterfeiting source.

Collar points on the fake touch the Mickey buttons in a different spot than on the real one and there is a vinyl color difference.


The area around the eyes on the fake appears airbrushed.


Font placement, style, and boldness appear the same on the authentic Kermits.


Real Kermit Body


Fake Kermit Body


Inside of authentic Kermit head


Inside of fake Kermit head


Fake Kermit card is lighter and the background pattern doesn't match


Back of fake Kermit card is lighter and the card-stock is different from the authentic one.

[redtop]

Very disappointing news to hear in the world of Vinylmation. We have dealt with shady people who steal in trades (Personal Experience), Scrappers, Sharks and Ebay profit sellers, but this might be the lowest of the low.

[crazy4vinyl]

I really liked this article, I wrote a similar one for another site.   I got a fake balloon chaser from an individual trader and gave him the benefit of the doubt.  He sent me my money back and my vinyls that were involved the in the trade are on their way back.  Now however I have received messages from two other individuals that also traded/bought with him and have received fake Kermits, U1 Gold Chaser and Balloon Chaser. 

[VinylBrad]

This is a major operation. You have to involve a lot of different people to make this happen. During the process, I imagine you have to have people knowledgable in materials mixing, injection molding machine operators, paint mixing and color matching, as well as people who set these machines up and operate them. It's scary because an operation like this involves more than one person, an entire factory line. That means the business itself is immoral and corrupt. It's a true shame.

[derikkuma]

I have a couple of vinyls where the symbol on the neck of the vinyl doesn't match the symbol inside the head. For example, the next has 'B' on it, and the inside of the head has '1'. Is it a fake?

[mattandjulie]

This is just a small glimpse of how much of a lowlife someone can be. It's amazing how pathetic some people can be, just to make money. Walt would be very sad to hear this. I hope for the sake of the kids out there that these scumbags are only targeting collectors and not taking advantage of kids at trading events.

And by the way, I spent about a half hour last night popping heads off of our p1s and other HTFs that we got from ebay...luckily, all real.

M & J

[DuckyDan]

I have a couple of vinyls where the symbol on the neck of the vinyl doesn't match the symbol inside the head. For example, the next has 'B' on it, and the inside of the head has '1'. Is it a fake?

I just asked a few people in the know on this and I'll let you know... probably not since they took the time to number / letter the body and head but I'll reply back once I know more.

[crazy4vinyl]

Well I will let you know that counting myself there are 3 of us that have traded with the same person, and gotten the same product.  I am also waiting on verification from a 4th individual who contacted me that once they read my story, they recently made a trade for a balloon chaser, and it looks just like mine if it was the same person.  If this is the case, then this person is intentionally doing this to collectors and his story about I was scammed too and I got these from a DL trading event, which is what he is telling everyone.

[DuckyDan]

Whoever it is has a screen printer of some sort which is doing it as these are not hand painted at all.  It's also why they are so close to real but with minor imperfections.  There was a 3-dimentional printer that would scan an object and recreate it shown off at CES about 3 years ago.  I never heard anything else about it but my guess is that they are using something similar.

derikkuma, can you send me a photo of the head and neck lettering to show to someone (admin@vinylmationconnection.com)

[redtop]

I have a couple of vinyls where the symbol on the neck of the vinyl doesn't match the symbol inside the head. For example, the next has 'B' on it, and the inside of the head has '1'. Is it a fake?

I dont think so. I read the numbers are to find out if a machine is bad and they know which one it is. They have different numbers because of different body parts i think. But im not sure. This whole situation really sucks.

[crazy4vinyl]

I know have confirmation that another individual has come forward and traded with the same person getting a fake balloon chaser.  So now there are 4 of us that I know of. The information and pictures have been forwarded to Disney so now it is up to them to take it any further.

[MrPumpkinKing]

if we want to get really paranoid, we can assume this counterfeiter frequents the vinyl websites. Upon noticing the various sites with these articles, don't you think this said counterfeiter will adjust and learn from what are being posted to make their product even more similar to the real thing? Scary thought indeed

[The Chase Is On]

What can you do? If there is no Supply and a high Demand, People will make the Supply. 

[hailobear27]

I recently bought two vinyls from ebay,
holiday 1 snowman and fourth of july,
super cheap, free shipping.
I assume it is going to be too good to be true.

When the come in the mail, i will update about them.

[DuckyDan]

Two things to be careful of on ebay more so than fakes are scrappers.

If an ebay listing says:

"Animation Series 1 Phil FH37"  or any other set of letter number combination in the title it is a scrapper.