An Illinois man’s phantom ’52 Mantle has landed him a reservation at the Graybar Hotel.
It sounded like a good idea.
They all do when you’re a scammer.
Jeremy Markell, a 29 year-old ex-con from western Illinois already had a record when he stole someone else’s 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle scan and put up a fake auction on eBay. Two bidders thought they had the deal of a lifetime. One paid over $15,000…but Markell also hooked a second person to the tune of $14,000.
The buyers got something all right–just not what they were expecting. That’s when they got mad. The end result was big trouble for the perpetrator–and his wife.
