Two counterfeit American Silver Eagles purchased from LIACOO, a company based in China.
THE COINS ARE COUNTERFEIT! FAKES!
I ordered the coins on June 4, the day I posted the article. The coins were shipped from China to California to New Jersey to my office. LIACOO used the services of Newgistics, which is now a subsidiary of Pitney-Bowes. By using a logistics company in this manner, they can hide behind the anonymity of the service.
Contacting Pitney-Bowes is nearly impossible. I left a very public message on Twitter. Let’s see if they respond.
When the coins arrived, I opened the package and started to examine the contents. The coins are in a slab-like holder similar to the Coin World holders but without the Coin World logo. At first glance, they look fine, and then a closer look revealed problems.
My first impression was that there are almost no rims on the coin. A closer look at the obverse, and the font is too thin for the LIBERTY around the coin. Then I turned the coin over to focus on the U in United. It is missing the tail on the right side of the U. I did not need to see any more to be convinced this was a fake coin.
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- The font for LIBERTY is too thin. Also, the stars in her flag draped over the shoulder are too small.
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- Aside from the rims being to thin, look at the U in United and the dash between SILVER and ONE. These are not correct for the 2020 ASE.
Finally, I removed the coin to weigh it. An American Silver Eagle is supposed to weigh just slightly more than one troy ounce because it is only .999 silver. Since my scale only measures grams to the tenths of ounces, it should have weighed 31.1 grams. It weighed 25 grams.
The coin is not magnetic.
I will investigate further, but I wanted to report my initial findings.
DO NOT BUY CHEAP EAGLES FROM RANDOM WEBSITES!
I bought these coins to prove my point. I knew I was potentially buying fakes. I spent less than $30 for education aids.
Unfortunately, two correspondents wrote to tell me they each bought ten coins from different dealers. They spent $19.95 per coin. Both lost over $200 with the shipping costs.
IF YOU CANNOT IDENTIFY THE DEALER, THEIR EXACT LOCATION, AND THEIR BUSINESS STATUS, THEN DO NOT BUY THEIR COINS!
LIACOO is a scam. It is a company based in China. DO NOT BUT FROM THEM!
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I posted a tweet on your tweet, but I’d like you to know Newgistics/Pitney Bowes are likely compliant with this scam.
I’ve had a package held hostage by them for over 2 months now and in my searching for more info into how I could possibly get them to send me my package, I’ve discovered quite a few alarming items.
They are faking tracking updates which is the biggest red flag for me. That, and not being able to contact them directly. Also the fact that they give the same response saying that the merchant you purchased from will have more info than them.
How is that possible if they have possession of my item!? It makes no sense. In fact, you are the only person I’ve spoken to in over 2 months that has actually had something delivered by Newgistics.
If you’d like to talk more you can contact me at <email deleted to prevent spam>
Bryant
Perhaps one of your Senators or your Congressperson can direct you to a government agency that can try to help or should know about this. That’s the only advice I have.
Sincerely
Bob Graul
Bryant and Scott
Have you considered that there might be no package? That would explain things.
If you are assuming that there’s a package,. Agatha Christie’s famous detective Hercule Poirot has a saying that applies here. He says “assume nothing.”
The Feds should be looking into this.
Sincerely
Bob Graul
Scott
CBS news reported a few years ago that.a man in this country was cheated out of $84,000 on Chinese fakes. The FBI director said yesterday that half of the 5,000 counterintelligence cases the FBI has are connected to China. The Chinese are stealing from this country left and right. It is not a friendly country.
Add to that the fact that China has some of the world’s worst sweatshops. That must be where the fakes are made.
Sincerely
Bob
Two more clues: the digits on the date are the wrong font and size (1) and are displayed on a curve, rather than a straight line (2) as on the real coins..
My assessment was done quickly based on walking from the mailbox to my desk. I saw enough at that point. Then I put it on the scale just to confirm.
FWIW, it seems to be a coordinated scam. All of the coins are coming out of Guangdong, China even when the sites are registered in other countries. This is based on tracking information.
Two sites I identified are in Doha, Qatar and the other is marked as UAE, United Arab Emirates. More to come.
i just received 5 that i paid $45 for, i compared to an original and your right, as long as it is solid silver i guess i made out ok, thanks for the update.
I do not know the composition. I’ll find that out soon.
It can’t be solid silver if the diameter and thickness are correct. If it were solid (or .999) silver, it would weigh the correct number. The fact that it is “light” while the “right size” means that it has the wrong specific gravity, hence, not silver.
At a specific gravity of about 8.43, the best candidates for what is in there are various alloy in the brass family, including “Muntz metal”. The thicker the plating is, the more “ordinary” the brass alloy may be.
Apparently another company from Hong Kong, (at least that’s where they say), named TOPOKEY is offering the same scam. The coins they are offering are listed as follows: 2006-2020 American 1-Ounce Eagle Brilliant Uncirculated
$9.98
50% OFF
$19.99
I must tell you I was tempted to buy silver at half price for a hot second. I am so glad I read your scam alert before ordering any of these coins.
Thanks BOB!!
Here is a link to their website if it will make it past mediation:
https://www.topokey.com/products/2006-2020-american-1-ounce-eagle-brilliant-uncirculated?fbclid=IwAR3o67nuQwYoo7OhP7rA0O4cH9yucJLRE6sEsFAQ8Ui7z4p2BwEoZF8Ejz0
It’s the same company or they are all sharing the same code base for their websites.
Sorry I got your name wrong! Thanks to you, SCOTT, for your blog and your scam alert!! Without them I would probably be out some $’s.
I will have another post up by Friday with the results of my investigation. Stay tuned!