Fake World Cup programmes

[gertjan]

I would like to draw your attention to the following:

Mike Verhoef (on ebay: ' *mp*69* ' but this changes now and then) is a "dealer" from Holland who was mentioned in several articles in Programme Monthly a couple of years ago, selling his own made programmes/photocopies as genuine/official. He's a big fraud.

Now he's done it again on a big scale.

He still produces programmes at his home, selling them on ebay. He doesn't use the word "official" anymore, so may be it's not a crime. However, he does make it appear as normal matchday programmes, not pirates.

Now he sold many "World Cup Programmes". Look at the following auction:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2014.....1240228465

He sold 150 (!) copies of his home-made programme, making thousands of pounds. These were not on sale in Brazil! It's his own production. He doesn't claim it's an official programme, but it's a very doubtful way of selling. And there are 150 people buying this programme, so it's widely spread.

Furthermore he sold so-called "matchday" programmes from some matches (England matches, where he can make the most money)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2014.....1339062932

Sold them for 27.95 pounds. Sold 15 copies solely this auction! He had many more auctions. All his World Cup programmes have the same lay-out.

Anyway, may be it's worth mentioning in this forum that these are home-made programmes, it has nothing to do with the World Cup organisation, it's not official in any way.

[DannyRoberts]

... and here's the listing aimed at the German market

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WM-F.....7675.l2557

he's making a fortune !!!

[gertjan]

DannyRoberts wrote:

... and here's the listing aimed at the German market http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WM-F.....7675.l2557 he's making a fortune !!!

88 sold..... in this auction!

he's doing this already for many years now, but not in this numbers...

[Wullie]

To be fair I would say most collectors know exactly what they are buying. There are people who will buy any old rubbish.

[Wullie]

To be fair I would say most collectors know exactly what they are buying. There are people who will buy any old rubbish.

[gertjan]

Wullie wrote:

To be fair I would say most collectors know exactly what they are buying. There are people who will buy any old rubbish.

True, but it's more a warning for people who really think this is an official programme... And I doubt most people know this is a home-made programme....

[RoddyN]

This man is well known for selling programmes for Champions League matches purporting to be official when they are in fact self produced. I heard from one source that he was working for UEFA. I find that difficult to believe. He produced a pirate for the PSG v Chelsea Champions League match in April which he later claimed was available at the Stadium in Paris, which was not the case as I attended the match and watch out for these things quite diligently. He was selling these so called "official" programmes at £14.95 each on Ebay immediately after the game. Wullie you are correct "Caveat emptor".

[gertjan]

RoddyN wrote:

He produced a pirate for the PSG v Chelsea Champions League match in April which he later claimed was available at the Stadium in Paris, which was not the case as I attended the match and watch out for these things quite diligently.

Yep, he's done this many times. I'm ashamed he's from my country, he has a very bad name.
Working for the UEFA? Unfortunately I think he has some photo-journalist kind of license. Don't know exactly what it is.
In the past he had some problems with Ajax, and I heard he is/was not welcome anymore in certain area's in the stadium...

[bisphamseasider]

He's got a right racket going here.

He certainly doesn't claim these are official but then again he doesn't say they are unofficial.

The implication is that these are proper programmes and they look the part as well.

I imagine that for everyone who knows what they are getting, there are many more that don't.

[garyspain]

Bayern v Man City is among his productions as is Luxembourg v Scotland.

I understand he is banned from a number of clubs in the Netherlands and does not normally produce pirates for Dutch games.

There is at least one more real Dutch person involved in the same business and a number of aliases.

[BAZZABAGGIES]

Louis van Gaal ?

[Kickoff3pm]

I reported this bloke a while ago but perhaps if more people did that it would stop the practice. http://www.fifa.com/contact/form.html
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[Tynie Topics]

Wow, a nice pay out for him, but then people are stupid enough to buy them.

I don't have a problem with "unofficial" programmes if they are on sale at the ground, they're a nice souvenir, but some of this stuff is just home produced rubbish.

That said, he was selling them at the gate for the Luxembourg v Scotland match for £3 a pop and plenty of Scotland fans bought them, and the official programme which was also on sale.
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[Wullie]

Isn't it absolutely bizarre. In the 50s and 60s pirate programmes were a menace at grounds and now they have become quite collectable in themselves. The con more or less dies out , but now it is making a comeback because of the internet , cheap modern printers and eBay . And people will buy them. Some unaware they are pirate programmes and some who know they are, but buy them anyway.
When people talk of programmes disappearing altogether in a few years time, the idea that pirate programmes are back in "" fashion "" is odd.

[gertjan]

J just got a post message from someone who asked Mike for more information about the programme, if it was official, etc.
His answer:"I don't know, I got them directly from Brazil"
Big lie!

Nothing wrong with people collecting pirates or items like that, but Mike Verhoef was a fraud, is a fraud, and will keep on lying for the rest of his life.

Another warning, he does not always operate under his own name. Like the auctions mentioned in this topic, these are placed under another name. In the past he also used the name of his (ex?)girlfriend.

As a Dutchman I'm very sorry to say: be careful when buying programmes from Holland... And that's not easy for me, cause now and then I also sell on ebay

[fcdbafc]

gertjan wrote:

RoddyN wrote: He produced a pirate for the PSG v Chelsea Champions League match in April which he later claimed was available at the Stadium in Paris, which was not the case as I attended the match and watch out for these things quite diligently. Yep, he's done this many times. I'm ashamed he's from my country, he has a very bad name. Working for the UEFA? Unfortunately I think he has some photo-journalist kind of license. Don't know exactly what it is. In the past he had some problems with Ajax, and I heard he is/was not welcome anymore in certain area's in the stadium...

Hi Gertjan,

In the past he had a NSP-pass (Dutch Sports Press pass) but is retracted.
I don't know how he does it but he still visit matches as a photographer but as you said, it becomes more difficult for him.
I met him a few weeks ago at the Groningen v Aberdeen match and he was refused at the press entry.
I know he is also not welcome at AZ.

in the past he has stolen boxes with original CL and EL papers from Ajax and that's why he can still offer press-kits on official papers. (for the people who doesn't know it, you can print your own press sheets at uefa.com)

Personal doesn't I have any problems with pirates....if match sold.

gr,
Fred

[fcdbafc]

This same person offered a few years ago programmes from the 1957 EC Final Real v Fiorentina and from the semi Real v Man Utd so called VIP programmes.
nobody had ever seen them before and sold them for 1000+ each.

1 of the 2 buyer didn't trust it and investigated if the quality of the paper.
The paper that he used for the programmes didn't excist in the 50's!

He has also the guy behind the "Tutti Sport" 1970 teamsheet between "Feyenoord Amsterdam and "Celtic Glagow".

[houghmartin]

I don't like these printed at home pirates any more than the rest of you but it looks like his customers are happy paying so much for home produced rubbish.... Ebay feedback in the last 12 months for him is 742 positive with only one negative. ... certainly not the statistics of people people being duped into thinking they are buying the real thing....
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www.crewepins.blogspot.com

[gertjan]

houghmartin wrote:

I don't like these printed at home pirates any more than the rest of you but it looks like his customers are happy paying so much for home produced rubbish.... Ebay feedback in the last 12 months for him is 742 positive with only one negative. ... certainly not the statistics of people people being duped into thinking they are buying the real thing....

I think the problem is that many people don't know that this is a home-made programme. Even when they received it. I got 2 questions from German collectors about the authencity of this programme, that's why I started this post.
If he would clearly state this is a "pirate" or a self made programme, no problem. But he's trying to trick people, and as Fred says he's done this in the past many times, even making photocopies from old programmes, or making so-called VIP-programmes from macthes played 50 years ago, and selling them for 1500 pounds.
And he has used the "VIP-edition" trick a couple of times the last past years.

@Fred: Thanks for the info. I didn't know the details... Good to see he doesn't have a license anymore...

[Kickoff3pm]

Got a reply from fifa folks;

"Dear Dave,

Thank you for reporting this matter.

We forwarded your email to our legal department.

Kind regards,

FIFA Communications & Public Affairs "
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