Alleged Card Trimmer and Former PSA Employee Mike Souza Exposed— eBay ID= 9999rbush

[fabiani12333]

Bought one card from this seller -- 2008 Topps refractor graded PSA 10.

Should I throw it out?

[vwnut13]

Originally Posted by ninjacookies

Yup. So many concerns raised over the years...fallen upon deaf ears. A few were 'woke,' but majority shied away from actual conversation or just flat out denied anything was wrong with the system.

Thank god for BODA for actually dropping the irrefutable mountain of evidence.

I found out that grading was a load of crap when I purchased a BGS 9.5 to replace a poor condition PC card and the 9.5 was in worse condition.

[unclemonkey]

Posted message via my 2+2 poker forum persona.

Don't know how to post link via my phone.

Michael souza is an alleged angle shooter in poker as well

[superdan49]

Originally Posted by pip

There's an interesting corollary to this. At least several of the high grade 1996 SI for Kids Tiger Woods cards have been trimmed. How do I know this? Because of the number of serrations around the edge. When certain card trimmers got ahold of them, they were recut but the card doctors forgot to count how many serrations the original cards had. Many years ago, I noticed this on a number of PSA graded examples. I had completely forgotten about this until this thread.

I have investigated this claim. Huge news to come shortly.

[pspa123]

Originally Posted by unclemonkey

Posted message via my 2+2 poker forum persona.

Don't know how to post link via my phone.

Michael souza is an alleged angle shooter in poker as well

Translation please?

[pspa123]

Originally Posted by superdan49

I have investigated this claim. Huge news to come shortly.

I look forward to seeing how someone could fake the serrated edge that comes from removing these cards from sheets where the individual cards are divided by perforations.

[Scottish Punk]

Originally Posted by pspa123

Translation please?

Angle shooting in Poker is doing something out of turn to illicit a response from the other player and then doing the opposite.

Example, start to act like you are going to muck or make a bet while the other person is acting. You do this in hopes that player uses this fake move to change is decision. When it is your turn, you end up doing the opposite.

It looked upon as very low brow tactic. Kind of like slow rolling a winning hand.

[epatmythes]

Originally Posted by superdan49

I am of the opinion that the top card doctors would be the best graders.

Agreed, just like the top computer hackers make the best government cyber security personnel!

[unclemonkey]

Originally Posted by pspa123

Translation please?

Not quite as bad, but angle shooting is essentially the poker equivalent of trimming cards.

[Giancarlo27]

Originally Posted by Scottish Punk

Angle shooting in Poker is doing something out of turn to illicit a response from the other player and then doing the opposite.

Example, start to act like you are going to muck or make a bet while the other person is acting. You do this in hopes that player uses this fake move to change is decision. When it is your turn, you end up doing the opposite.

It looked upon as very low brow tactic. Kind of like slow rolling a winning hand.

Angle shooting can be done in turn as well, doesn’t have to be out of turn. Example: grabbing a stack of chips and moving over the betting line as if to bet, but never letting them touch the felt and leave your hand to see if the person acting after you will muck/instacall/etc. either way he is clearly a lowlife scumbag

[coltsfan23]

Also uses 10bccg10 as a buying ID

[dustin42]

Originally Posted by epatmythes

Agreed, just like the top computer hackers make the best government cyber security personnel!

[Scottish Punk]

Originally Posted by Giancarlo27

Angle shooting can be done in turn as well, doesn’t have to be out of turn. Example: grabbing a stack of chips and moving over the betting line as if to bet, but never letting them touch the felt and leave your hand to see if the person acting after you will muck/instacall/etc. either way he is clearly a lowlife scumbag

That is true. Get you shot or beat up in the "old" days at the poker table.

[dfr52]

Originally Posted by epatmythes

Agreed, just like the top computer hackers make the best government cyber security personnel!

Excellent comparison

[superdan49]

We now have the official name of Mike Souza's business:

Players Investments, Inc.
http://www.buzzfile.com/business/Pla....-619-723-4810

The name API Sportscards is likely a former or unofficial business name Souza uses, but Players Investments, Inc. is the name under which a business tax certificate was issued by the city treasurer's office in San Diego.

[Bowman1951]

Originally Posted by dizzydolse

So disgusted at this point. I keep typing out different responses to this and then deleting it because it seems pointless. I guess all I should say is thank you, again, to the people putting in the time and effort to expose this stuff. I really hope it is for the right reasons, which I truly believe it is. Pretty much at my breaking point with the hobby though. Really is utterly ridiculous.

I feel the same way, "what can I add to the conversation?" type of reaction when reading all of these. I have written very little in the TPG scandal threads but read most in their entirety, some taking hours throughout a day of just leaving it up on the screen and going back to it when I can. It's like a good book that you can't ever put down.

We continue to thank BODA for all of your hard work and efforts and obviously now know this is just the scratching of the surface. Over/under on 25 more scandal threads before 2020 hits? That's a little more than one per week, on average. I REALLY hope it's the under.

[Bowman1951]

Originally Posted by superdan49

We now have the official name of Mike Souza's business:

Players Investments, Inc.
http://www.buzzfile.com/business/Pla....-619-723-4810

The name API Sportscards is likely a former or unofficial business name Souza uses, but Players Investments, Inc. is the name under which a business tax certificate was issued by the city treasurer's office in San Diego.

I did some searching under API Sportscards, which I believe was his eBay username previously.

Questioning the link going back to 2012:

https://www.beckett.com/forums/archi...d-1490490.html

I assume the name change occurred around 2006, is that timeline linked to when Mike was no longer working at CLCT?

https://www.topratedseller.com/ebay/9999rbush

Google searches will link to the username which seems that it existed at some point...

https://www.ebay.com/str/API-Sportscards/

An actual item previously sold under that name?

https://www.ebay.com/str/API-Sportsc...cat=3488584619

[Bowman1951]

Originally Posted by superdan49

We now have the official name of Mike Souza's business:

Players Investments, Inc.
http://www.buzzfile.com/business/Pla....-619-723-4810

The name API Sportscards is likely a former or unofficial business name Souza uses, but Players Investments, Inc. is the name under which a business tax certificate was issued by the city treasurer's office in San Diego.

Dan, I take it there was some sort of data there you were previously able to confirm? I'm getting this now...

Error 1020 Ray ID: 509628a6e9419fb8 • 2019-08-20 17:41:33 UTC
Access denied
What happened?
This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks.

Not sure if it was potentially removed, can someone else confirm if they get the same message?

Manta still has some data up:

https://www.manta.com/c/mryxk95/players-investments-inc

Players Investments, Inc
6930 Regner Rd.
San Diego, CA 92119
Phone: (619) 723-4810

Players Investments, Inc is a privately held company in San Diego, CA and is a Single Location business.

Categorized under Investors (Unclassified). Our records show it was established in 2009 and incorporated in CA. Current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of 143997 and employs a staff of approximately 2.

[Bowman1951]

Nevermind, the BuzzFile link above now works for me, it was a short-term website related issue.

[Bruins1993]

Originally Posted by dfr52

Excellent comparison

Computer hacking can be simply for sport/challenge whereas I don't know any card doctors that are not swindlers.

[dustin42]

Originally Posted by Bruins1993

Computer hacking can be simply for sport/challenge whereas I don't know any card doctors that are not swindlers.

Correct. I think Frank Abagnale instead.

[I only pull for]

I used to buy a ton of psa 10 80s singles from this guy. Glad I stopped collecting sets to compete in the registry years ago. This #@#@#@#@ is appalling! If I still have any of the psa 10 80s singles from this guy I'm going to demand a a refund from his sorry ass!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[hche]

When searching a California business, just use this official Secretary of State website:
https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/

If you clicked the details, Michael R Souza is the CEO, Secretary and CFO for Players Investments Inc. It's all public info.

https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/CB...ubType=Keyword
https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Do...90695-16143728

[dfr52]

Originally Posted by Bruins1993

Computer hacking can be simply for sport/challenge whereas I don't know any card doctors that are not swindlers.

It is the reverse of computer security personnel where the former employee uses what they have learned to cheat the system.

For sport or challenge the act of hacking is still inappropriate and in many cases a crime.

[Batpig]

Originally Posted by superdan49

I have investigated this claim. Huge news to come shortly.

Can’t wait for this. Out of curiosity I just went on EBay looking for completed auctions, and all of the lower grade 96 SI for kids Tigers have 41 perforations on the left and right (43 if you include corners). All the high grade ones that I found do not.