Fake Coin Dealers
In June 2020, some Facebook users started to see advertisements for American Silver Eagle coins selling as low as $9.99 each. The first advertisement came from one company but seemed to branch out to others.
Aside from ordering two coins for educational purposes, I started to analyze the websites. The goal was to determine who were selling counterfeit coins before collectors try to buy them.
As I did the analysis, I found a pattern that was similar across all of the websites. Each used a similar template and changed the wording as needed. Most had the same wording, formatting codes, had the same characteristics.
I forwarded the information I had to the U.S. Secret Service. However, for the collectors to protect themselves, I created the following table of sites that sold and is selling fake coins. Caveat emptor!
| Company | Country | Last Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attitudelin Collection attitudelin.com |
China | Oct 17, 2020 | No longer selling fake coins but don’t be fooled. This site goes out of its way to make it look U.S. based. The domain name is registered to a Chinese company |
| Birdeen birdeen.com |
China | Oct 17, 2020 | This site does not sell coins at last check. However, another reported scam sends traffic here. |
| C-Mac Benny’s Shop marcciss.com |
China | Oct 17, 2020 | No longer selling fake coins and redesigned the site |
| Coohere coohere.com |
China | Oct 17, 2020 | No longer selling fake coins |
| Grerofy gregory.com |
China | Oct 17, 2020 | STILL SELLING FAKE COINS. Uses a Gmail address for contact. No other contact information. Domain registration is from China via Alibaba. |
| Kasbit kasbit.com |
China | Oct 17, 2020 | No longer selling fake coins |
| Liacoo liacoo.com |
China | Oct 17, 2020 | No longer selling fake coins. This is the site I purchased two fake coins from. See this post for more about my purchase. |
| Liliss liliss.com |
China | Oct 17, 2020 | No longer selling fake coins |
| Pro Lights City prolightscity.com |
China | Oct 17, 2020 | Site redirects to birdeen.com |
| Topokey topokey.com |
China | Oct 17, 2020 | No longer selling fake coins |
| Werrbity werrbity.com |
Unknown | Oct 17, 2020 | Site is online but returns 404 (page not found) error |
| World Pesos worldpesos.com |
Unknown | Oct 17, 2020 | STILL SELLING FAKE COINS. Uses a Tucson, AZ telephone that cannot be verified. Common identification techniques suggest that it is a Google Voice number. Domain registration is from Canada. Several readers confirm that the coins they received from this company are fake. |