Unnamed DeKalb baseball card dealers have ripped off local and out-of-state card fans of about $5,000 in cash and cards, DeKalb Police said Tuesday.

The hobbyists have complained to the DeKalb Police that they turned their baseball card collection over to a third party who promised to sell it for a profit, but the third party never paid them for the cards. Some out-of-state collectors have sent checks to local baseball card dealers and never received the goods.

One complaint involved about $1,500 in baseball cards that were to be sold on consignment and another concerned a hobbyist that had a $3,000 check for cards cashed, said DeKalb Police Lt.

Dick Moudy.

Moudy said he did not want to discredit honest local businesses or hobbyists, but he did want to warn people not to hand over their cards or money to people they do not know.

Although Moudy refused to name the dealers accused of dishonesty, he said there had been more than one complaint on more than one DeKalb baseball card dealer.

Jesse Cortes, an employee of the Silver Smith, 659 E. Lincoln Hwy., said his store sells baseball cards, comic books, coins and supplies. “We’ve got the best business in town and we haven’t had any problems like this,” Cortes said.

Two other baseball card dealers, Sports Cards Plus, 235 E. Lincoln Hwy., and Sport Card Trade Center, 1404 Sycamore Road, could not be reached for comment because their telephone numbers were disconnected.