News
2 arrested in New York in coin fraud cases prey on elderly in South Florida, authorities say
March 26, 2010 By Michael LaForgia, The Palm Beach Post Accused of running a $40 million boiler-room scam on New York's Long Island, Joseph Romano posted bond, headed to Delray Beach and continued preying on elderly victims, federal authorities said Friday. Romano and a co-conspirator, Russell Barnes, used a slick website, cold calls and high-pressure sales tactics to sell rolls of coins to unsuspecting buyers, according to court documents filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Treinis Gatz. Now, Gatz is arguing the duo should be jailed until their cases are resolved. |
Numis Network a Scam? Numis Network Review. Some Hard Questions
February 10, 2010 by Dennis Volz I’ve been hearing a lot about the Numis Network lately. There’s a lot of talk about this one-of-a-kind Network Marketing company. It certainly is unique in that it’s the only one, at least to my knowledge, that sells numismatic coins. I also hear lots of ’slogans’ — “Autoship that increases your net worth.” and “Why Not Buy Money”. These are coupled with lots of comparisons to other traditional network marketing products because, “You don’t have to test it, learn how to use it, drink it, develop a taste for it or demonstrate it — Because IT’S MONEY!” Seems that the slogans boil down to the comparison that with everyone else you get ‘useless’ stuff that can pile up in your garage, but who wouldn’t want a garage full of MONEY! This concept troubled me, so I did a little research. Buying money looks like a good idea. On the surface, it sounds like a no-brainer. But is it? I’m a numbers guy because I believe that in dieting and business, the figures never lie. So I went to an expert. A gentleman I know right here in San Diego who has been buying and selling coins for over 30 years. Makes a VERY GOOD living at it, I might add. Here’s what he told me: Most uninformed consumers purchase these coins at retail. They have four values: The true value of any asset is the amount of dollars you can get in exchange. Your house is worth what a buyer will pay you for it in dollars. A car lists for $2900 in the Auto Trader for 3 weeks and the seller finally takes the best offer of $2000. That car is worth $2000. Doesn’t matter what the seller paid for it.
If these numbers are correct and unless a collector can unload his entire collection at retail prices (unlikely) then his “assets” from The Numis Network are worth 1/3-2/3 of what he paid and likely never to recover back to the retail price. If you’re spending $150+ a month on an autoship, do you want to be buying anything with a liquidation value that’s 1/3-2/3 of what you paid for it? That’s NOT increasing your net worth. That’s destroying it. Seems to me that Numis Network is selling “money” at an inflated price. They make it clear in the above statement that you should be in this as a COLLECTOR not an INVESTOR. They seem to be saying to get these if you like to collect them, but don’t expect to break even or much less make a profit. Spending $2000 over a year on numismatic coins to find that you have a set of coins worth $700 or $800 can be a little disturbing. Let’s keep our eyes wide open here in the marketplace…
|
Warning - Monex Tape Records Telephone Disclaimers to Fight Lawsuits by its Customers
Rare coin and precious metal hawker Monex, which can be seen on television soliciting investments in gold and rare coins, has apparently left many customers unhappy. If one searches on the Internet, one can find many negative postings about the firm, which makes its money regardless of whether its customers lose theirs. Lately, the firm has started to defend fraud claims by playing a tape recording of its customers being read boilerplate disclaimers over the telephone. Customers who feel defrauded and file a lawsuit may be dismayed to find that the telephone sales pitch, which they relied upon in deciding to invest, was not recorded by the firm. However, if the case otherwise has merit, this defense tactic should not prevent a just outcome, as the firm has difficulty giving a good explanation for why it only tapes material favorable for its legal defense. Source: http://www.timkaren.com/lawyer-attorney-1305138.html |
Pamela Fayed's Murder Marks The Beginning of the End for E-bullion
For OpEdNews: DGCmagazine - Writer July 28th, 2008 was a Monday night like most other weeknights but as the sun set over the California coastline about 6:35 p.m. e-bullion's Pamela Fayed was being murdered. This is a tragic event, a mother has died and she was someone the DGC industry knew very well. She leaves behind two young daughters.By sunrise the next morning, all of the local news channels were running the story and a lot of details on the day to day operation of Goldfinger Coin & Bullion Sales were starting to appear on index pages across the Internet. Most of the California television and newspapers focused on the fact that James Fayed and his estranged wife were going through a messy divorce. The early reports talked about court documents which had shown around $12 million in assets up for grabs in the divorce.
Late Friday, August 1, just days after losing Pamela, the news broke that James Fayed was in Federal custody. It is important to note that he has not been charged with a crime relating to Pamela's murder. James Fayed as the operator and signatory on GoldFinger/e-bullion bank accounts had been arrested for a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1960, which is operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. It appears from the documentation that Fayed's current money transmitting charge stems from e-bullion acting as third party receiver for alleged ponzi funds amounting to something like $20 million. "during a roughly eight-month period in 2005 and 2006, bank accounts in the name of GCB, over which defendant was a signatory (along with his deceased, estranged wife), received and transferred out over $20,000,000 in proceeds from Ponzi scheme victims. The victims did not intend to use defendant's business to purchase gold or precious metals, as defendant's website represents as the service offered by defendant's company. Neither defendant nor the entities he admittedly controls were licensed to transfer such funds. Accordingly, defendant was charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business." [2]
This charge is identical to the one received by Douglas Jackson of e-gold. (This is one of the charges he "plead guilty to" in the recent e-gold plea agreement.) A similar New York State Criminal charge was also used to arrest Arthur Budovsky and Vladimir Kats aka "Ragnar Danneskjoldof" of GoldAge.net back in July 2006. Article 13-B of the New York banking law states that it is a felony to transfer money without a license. (charges whether State or Federal are just allegations and all parties are presumed innocent) After Jim Fayed's arrest, court documents began to surface on the Net such as restraining orders, bail documents, indictments and more. One web site even uncovered that James had gone bankrupt in 1997 and it seemed that all the dirty laundry was now coming out. Almost all of this information either "by the piece" or looking at the "big picture," paints a grim picture for the future of e-bullion and Goldfinger Coin & Bullion Sales. The e-bullion web site has been reportedly offline for "maintenance" since August 5th. http://www.e-bullion.com However, the Goldfinger Coin and Bullion web site is still live and operating. http://www.goldfingercoin.com
An associated press story tried to make a connection between e-bullion, James Fayed and a federal fraud investigation, but no reliable source could confirm that information.
After Jim's arrest, the press had a field day with the information regarding the search of his residence.
Source: http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/Pamela-Fayed-s-Murder-Mark-by-DGCmagazine-080811-177.html |
Counterfeit Coins Cost Consumers Millions
By Kathy Kristof Beware buying rare coins online, at flea markets and swap meets. Consumers are spending millions buying what they believe are rare coins, but they’re getting near-worthless Chinese-made counterfeits. More than a million counterfeit coins manufactured in China have been fraudulently sold in the U.S., according to Coin World, a respected industry publication. Some of these were peddled as “replicas” but they were manufactured without the requisite “copy” stamp. Roughly 99% of the replicas produced in China don’t contain the “copy” marking that’ required by the U.S. Hobby Protection Act, which is aimed at warning consumers that they’re getting a mass-produced replica rather than the original, according to Coin World. As a result, it’s easy to resell these coins at flea markets, swap meets and through Internet auctions, without giving the buyer any inkling that the coins could be fakes.
“Millions of dollars already have been spent on these fakes and potentially millions more may be unwittingly lost by consumers who mistakenly think they are getting a genuine rare coin,” said Paul Montgomery, president of the Professional Numismatists Guild. How big of a difference does it make? A genuine 1916-D dime sells for about $700, but a replica can be had for $21. “Generally the replicas being sold have zero commercial value,” Scott Schechter, vice president for the Numismatic Guaranty Corp. told me in an interview. “Most people are looking at a total loss.” Consumers may be particularly vulnerable at a time when precious metal prices are hitting all-time highs, largely because consumers have become nervous about traditional investments such as stock and bonds, as well as the rapidly declining value of the U.S. dollar. Roughly $5 billion in rare coins are sold each year, even in the midst of today’s recession. In a joint release issued by the American Numismatic Association, the Industry Council for Tangible Assets, the Professional Numismatists Guild, the Numismatic Guaranty Corp., and the Professional Coin Grading Service, the groups urged consumers to research before they buy and restrict their purchases to reputable companies that they have reason to trust. If you are tempted to buy at a flea market or online, you may want to check out the coin with authentication companies such as the Numismatic Guaranty Corp. or the Professional Coin Grading Service. The Professional Numismatists Guild will also provide a copy of its booklet, “What You Should Know Before You Buy Rare Coins,” for $1 if you send a request to them at 3950 Concordia Lane, Fallbrook, CA 92028. |
Alleged Coin Fraud Strikes eBay
By Michael Mahoney Several eBay customers complained about eBay's handling of the most recent massive fraud on the auction site, saying eBay knew about the problem and took too long to shut it down. Just as one six-figure online auction scam on eBay was finding closure, eBay has begun investigating another, according to published reports Wednesday. This time, the alleged fraud involves the sale of over US$400,000 in gold and silver coins and bullion, which were allegedly never delivered to winning bidders after payment was received, the New York Times reported. News of the investigation arrived not long after two men pleaded guilty in Sacramento, California federal court to scamming eBay users out of $450,000 over two years by bidding on their own auctions to drive up prices. eBay spokesperson Kevin Pursglove told the New York Times that eBay is working in conjunction with authorities to assist in the investigation of Anthony L. McEnroe of Peoria, Illinois, who allegedly used the account of another seller that was in good standing, called BillionOne, to auction the coins. False Positives McEnroe told the New York Times that he had done nothing wrong and that late deliveries are often a result of customer errors. He also stated he feels eBay is threatened by the use of the AuctionsManager software. "Nobody here has ripped anybody off that I know of," McEnroe was quoted as saying. Blame Game "eBay should take responsibility in this," one customer said. "I just sent payment on Saturday and they apparently knew about this and didn't inform us or shut this guy down." The majority of eBay customer complaints stemmed from the fact that a former account selling coins under the name Tony McEnroe was also shut down in January for non-delivery. The January account used the same mailing address as the BillionOne account. "eBay was notified about this possible connection some time ago," an eBay customer wrote. "They stonewalled and denied there was any connection! Guess what!!! I believe a lot of good eBayers will get burned badly on this." Migraines All Around The coin fraud is not the first time eBay has been accused of sitting back on a known auction scam. An auction of phony sports memorabilia turned into a legal headache for eBay when a $100 million lawsuit was filed in the spring of 2000, alleging that eBay knew about the auctions but did not take sufficient measures to thwart them. Although a California judge dismissed the class action suit in January, an attorney for the plaintiffs said that they intended to appeal. The plaintiffs claimed that they purchased $10 million worth of phony memorabilia through eBay.
Source: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/9079.html?wlc=1274289295&wlc=1274295924 |