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I am certain everybody here knows this, but just in case you don't...

There are any number of scams on internet or the television or in magazine advertisements that amount to putting some common coins into a fancy package and charging ridiculous amounts for them.

I saw an infomercial recently (and just saw one of my favorite YouTube channels do a special video denouncing it) in which a coin dealer in a suit stood up and said "I will sell you one pound of American silver coins for $600" and then he went on to claim that the numismatic (i.e., coin collector) value "at the current market" was over $2200. Setting aside for the moment that the "pound" was Avoirdupois but silver is sold in Troy ounces/pounds, the actual amount of silver coins he included (he gave a count of the quarters, dimes, and half dollars) was about $400 in any coin shop in America. As the for numismatic value, there was no way you could get to that $2200 value even if every single coin was a "brilliant un-circulated" (high grade) coin of a "key date" when in fact the photos he showed on the air were seriously worn coins you could have pulled from pocket change in 1965.

A relative of mine once showed me his pride and joy coin collection which was all in fancy wooden boxes and he paid about five times the market value.

I was in a coin shop buying some coins one day when a nice lady came in telling the owner that her father had just passed away leaving her an expensive collection of worn out junk coins in fancy wooden boxes. She was shocked when told that about half of the coins (those since 1965) were worth nothing more than face value and the rest were worth less than half what he paid for them.

One year (about 1967) for Christmas a relative gave me a fancy plastic "slab" containing three (well worn) pennies (one Indian head, one Lincoln-wheat, and one Lincoln-memorial) for which she paid what in 2025 would be over $20. I showed her that I had a mayonnaise jar full of wheat pennies (which I later sold for three cents each in the 1970s to get money to take a girl on a date, today you can buy all you want for less than a dime each in any coin shop) and an album full of Indian-head pennies (none of which I paid more than 25 cents for back in the 1960s; you could fill the album today for $1 a coin if you didn't care how worn out they were). She thought she had found a true bargain and that I was already rich from her gift alone.

I have seen way too many magazine ads offering to sell me a complete set of state quarters or presidential dollars for what amount to several dollars per coin; they are pretty much worth face value. The gold-plated ones or those with fancy paintings on them are "damaged coins" worth nothing to collectors.

A friend at church showed me a 2000 year old bronze Roman coin for which he had paid several hundred dollars at a curio shop in Israel. A week later I showed him a bag of equivalent random Roman coins for which I had paid $20 a dozen by mail order. (The dealer I bought them from insisted they were found buried in Israel dating from AD70, a year when lots of people buried coins they never came back to dig up. Since the coins were well worn they were certainly in somebody's pocket during the lifetime of a certain carpenter's son 50 years earlier. It's a good story and I repeat it often, but seriously, the Roman Empire was a big place and created millions of coins every year for several centuries. Coins found all over Europe are sold as "found in Israel" and who can say they were not?)

The bottom line is do not buy coins from flashy salesmen. If you see a curious coin in a curio shop and pay $10 for it then don't worry too much about finding the real value, but beware anyone putting coins into fancy boxes and plastic slabs and charging you a lot of money for the package. Post-1965 clad coins are rarely if ever worth more than face value (even plated in gold or fancy painted pictures) and pre-65 silver coins are almost always worn coins worth the silver content (varies from $20 to $25 per face value dollar). If someone is charging serious money for collector coins you need to do some serious research before handing over the money. If the only information you have about the value of the item you are buying is from the salesman WATCH OUT. [Serious collector coins in exceptionally good condition are often put into slabs by grading companies and command very high prices from collectors. If you are a collector, you know what an MS66 carson city morgan dollar is worth. If you are not a serious coin collector do not pay serious money for a coin because someone says it's worth it.)

Then we can briefly mention that China produces very good fakes of lots of old (and modern bouillon) coins. We can also mention that what looks like a shiny 1943 steel penny has almost certainly been cleaned and coated in fresh zinc in the last few years (and wasn't worth more than a nickle anyway). If someone offers you a "valuable shiny red 1984 penny" then it has almost certainly been cleaned and has little collector value.

Worse are people who sell "apps" which you use to take a photo of the coins in your pocket change. The app will all but certainly identify a "rare die error" from a 2023 coin and declare it worth $500. Take it to a coin shop and you'll be treated to a groan and a shake of the head, not a check to pay off your student loans.

By John M. Williams (Jay) on Thursday, January 02, 2025 - 04:13 pm: Edit

It's not only coins. My mother recently thought she was purchasing 100 stamps from an unknown online company for "30% off face value!" Of course, no such discount exists. The Post Office website warns that these offers involve counterfeit stamps or nothing at all. That was my Mom's case. Her credit card transaction was turned into a Paypal transaction to China, and no stamps, counterfeit or otherwise, ever appeared.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, January 02, 2025 - 04:48 pm: Edit

It's not just stamps and coins. No end of fraud exists in on-line stores. If you buy a new $1000 laptop for $150 and get a box containing a paid of sunglasses, the fraudster will "prove" he send the laptop by showing the shipping/delivery record of the sunglasses.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, January 02, 2025 - 04:57 pm: Edit

Routine reminder:

If anyone tells you to pay a fee to receive a bunch of cash for some stupid reason (lottery, restitution, inheritance) don't do it. There is no money for you, just a way for the scammer to get money from you for nothing. The scammer is NOT from a bank.

Your bank will NEVER ask you to confirm contact details. All such emails are a scam. If you think maybe one you got is real, print a copy and walk into your bank and ask the nice lady at the window if they do indeed need information.

By A David Merritt (Adm) on Thursday, January 02, 2025 - 05:07 pm: Edit

Follow up; If you use an online bank, call the phone number on your debit or credit card, and ask the bank directly what they need.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Thursday, January 02, 2025 - 05:26 pm: Edit

I received a post card in the mail telling me that my "home protection" policy attached to my mortgage is about to expire. The problem is, I paid the house off seven years ago (12 year early). I had to stop by the credit union on other business, so I took the card in to them. They were able to find the company behind the post card. It's a real company, with a very low BBB rating and lots & lots of poor online review. It's also a company my credit union has never worked with. Plus, my credit union does not offer any sort of "home protection" policy. Ergo, blatant false advertisement but technically not a scam.


Garth L. Getgen

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Friday, January 03, 2025 - 04:04 am: Edit

Friend of mine got his Mobile Phone Number transfered (in the UK, it's called a PAC Code) by fraudsters whio pretended to be him and his mobile phone network failed to do some of its checks before transfering the phone number to a new phone .

Friend started getting '2 Factor Authentication codes' before the number was transfered over - and so he contacted his mobile phone company - but they said there was nothing they can do until the number has been transfered over and then they got really bad in sorting it out.

Been a Nightmare 6 weeks for him as the fraudsters then tried to hack into his bank accounts (and failed), but did use his mobile number to provide 'cheap overseas phone calls' and various other scams - and so he now wasting alot of time trying clean up what the fraudsters did.

Only thing I can think of is they went though his bins and got some details - and that was enough to phish for the rest.....

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Friday, January 03, 2025 - 03:22 pm: Edit

I got an email with one scam I personally had not seen before.

The fraudster purported to have hacked my computer's camera and taken video of me performing lewd acts in front of my computer, and also hacked my contacts. The fraudster threatened to release said videos to all my contacts unless I paid up $1600 in bit coin to an account number provided.

Let's just say I knew for a fact no such videos could exist. I took a closer look at the email and I saw the absence of any kind of proof or specificity. So, I simply ignored the email.

Usually they're trying to trick you with false business transactions, but I hadn't seen this type of blackmail phishing before (heard about it, but not received it myself).

Like I said, I know no such videos existed, but just for the sake of caution I now turn any camera I have away from myself (or cover it) unless I'm actually using it for legitimate purposes. That way it's physically impossible for anyone to actually get any illegitimate images or videos from it.

However, especially for anyone who keeps a computer in the bedroom, it's probably a good idea to physically cover or move the camera when the computer is not in use - just in case it is hacked.

I went one step further. I put a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary above my head at my work station. When I'm using the camera for legitimate work (angled at me), no one can see it. When I tilt the camera up when I'm not using it, any hacker is simply going to get an image of the Blessed Mother.

Heh.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, January 03, 2025 - 06:54 pm: Edit

I have gotten dozens of those blackmail emails over several years. Like Ted, I know no such videos exist. Some of them threaten to erase my hard drive, lock my computer, or report my lewd acts to my employer (me?).

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Tuesday, February 04, 2025 - 12:44 pm: Edit

Email received today starts with:

We have discovered an attempt to charge $649.99 to your PayPal account for the purchase of 0.0065 Bitcoin. We've temporarily blocked this transaction, which came from an unidentified IP address in Texas, to safeguard your account.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, February 05, 2025 - 02:03 pm: Edit

Use this form to approve or reject to provide financial support to a beneficiary and undergo background checks as part of Uniting for Ukraine, the Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans; or the family reunification parole processes. You must file a separate Form I-25 for each beneficiary.
View Secure Document at THIS LINK.

By John M. Williams (Jay) on Wednesday, February 12, 2025 - 04:02 pm: Edit

Text message from a phone number in the Philippines:

"ExDriveMA Alert - Your vehicle has an unpaid toll bill. To avoid excessive late fees on your bill, please settle it promptly. Thank you for your cooperation!

Total amount: $2.99
Now Payment: htts://ezdrivema.com-payajl.top/i"

At least they were willing to admit that their late fees would be "excessive"!

By Mike Curtis (Nashvillen) on Wednesday, February 12, 2025 - 07:34 pm: Edit

Yeah, that one is going around. It is supposedly for a toll that is unpaid in Massachusetts. I have never been in Massachusetts...

Deleted and reported as junk to my cell provider.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, February 12, 2025 - 10:18 pm: Edit

I got two phone calls today, both claiming to be from my cable company, wanting me to disconnect my cable box so they could upgrade my system. The first time I just hung up, but the second time he said "Please don't hang up again. I really am from NAME, and your cable and internet and phones will stop working tomorrow if we don't do this today. I told him to call back in the afternoon as I was in bed with a broken hip and he would have to get my wife (whom I said was not there at the moment) to disconnect it. Then I looked up the cable company and called to ask if this was legit. They said it was fraud, and they offered two solutions. The first was to change the phone number I have had for 47 years, which I flatly refused to do. The second was to put me on the "do not call list" which we have been on for years. I said "I pick option three. YOU don't do anything, and when they call back I'll just tell them I know they are crooks." He said that there was no third option and I should pick one of the other two. I told him I was starting to think that HE was a scam, and he sent me instantly to a supervisor who apologized and said "sure, you can just do the third option."

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Wednesday, February 12, 2025 - 10:55 pm: Edit

What cable box....

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, February 12, 2025 - 11:17 pm: Edit

The current spot price of silver is $32.46 and gold is $2,926.83. This is easy to find on the internet and is for one troy ounce.

If somebody offers you a one-ounce silver coin for $20 it is certainly a fake; if they offer you a one-ounce silver bullion coin for $40 it is way over priced. [Note: if you are a serious collector you know that "slabbed" coins by a coin-grading company can seriously be worth $40. But if you are not a serious collector do not believe anyone telling you what serious slabbed coins are worth.]

If someone offers a one-ounce gold coin for $2500 it is definitely a fake. A one-ounce gold coin for more than about $3050 is overpriced. [Again, serious collectors know what slabbed high-grade coins are worth.]

A dollar's worth of 90% silver US coins from 1964 and earlier (junk silver, 90% silver, constitutional silver, actual money) will cost about $25 in a coin shop. If somebody offers that for $40 it's a gigantic rip-off, and if they claim you're getting "collector value" silver coins you are NOT. I should note that in later years (1992 to date) there were 90% silver proof coins sold by the mint. Collectors pay more than "spot" for such things as "coin collection items" but when you sell them to a coin shop I will bet you will be offered the spot price of 90% worn out junk coins.

If someone on internet who is a private seller offers you a good price on precious metal coins and offers to deliver them to your front door, DO NOT DO IT. They'll probably sell you fake coins and then sell the information that you are someone who buys precious metal coins to a burglar.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Sunday, February 16, 2025 - 12:45 pm: Edit

There is a very good video on YouTube by Blacktail Studio titled "I want my $17,000 back" (runtime = 34:51). Someone cloned his website and then scammed a woman out of $17,000, so he took a deep-dive into the wonderful world of scammers.


Garth L. Getgen

By John M. Williams (Jay) on Thursday, March 13, 2025 - 12:29 pm: Edit

Interesting article on CNBC's website about the overdue toll bill text message scam. They have identified over 60,000 domains sending out these messages, and traffic volume has increased 900% in the last three months.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Thursday, March 13, 2025 - 02:03 pm: Edit

Yeah, I've gotten tons of those stupid "unpaid toll" email scam emails.