Scam Alerts

This page is designed to warn buyers and sellers about reported scammers and fraudulent purchases or sales. In the event of fraudulent transactions with PayPal, please report them to PayPal. If you were a victim of a crime, we highly recommend filing a complaint with the Internet Crime Complain Center (ic3.gov), which will inform the FBI and state law enforcement agencies as well as international law enforcement agencies. We also recommend contacting local law enforcement as well. These agencies may be able to recover stolen money and coins from the other side of the world as well as put someone in prison.

August 21, 2024

Gold coins, certified coins, and coins previously sold elsewhere by other sellers at "Too Good to Be True" Prices - New Sellers with No Feedback History

Over the past 2-3 weeks, there has been a sudden increase in scam attempts by fraudulent sellers. Things to watch out for: The vast majority of these scams involve new usernames with little to no feedback history. It is likely one or two scammers registering multiple fake usernames on various IP addresses. We are banning them as the reports come in. They are also attempting to build false feedback by buying related items from their other fake usernames, which are new as well.

The type of items they are listing are often gold coins being sold below melt value (less than the value of the gold metal itself) or at prices that seem "too good to be true". They are also selling rare, but valuable silver/copper coinage, bullion and certified coins at "too good to be true" prices. Lastly, they are also creating fake listings of coins previously sold by legit sellers on USA Coin Book and other marketplaces, but at heavily discounted prices. We are attempting to contact buyers when we ban these accounts, so that they can initiate a PayPal dispute and get a refund using PayPal's excellent Buyer Protection program. Most buyers are able to get a refund quickly within a week or less. We do not want these scammers to make any kind of profit from their illegal efforts.

Please be extra cautious of new sellers at this time, especially if they are listing items at prices that seem "too good to be true". Please report any suspicious sellers to us so that we can review their account and ban them if neccessary.

July 19, 2023

Seated Liberty and Morgan Dollars at "Too Good to Be True" Prices - New Sellers with No Feedback History

Over the past two days, we've received a spike in reports about a scammer listing high valued NGC/PCGS-certified Seated Liberty, Morgan Silver Dollars and Gold coins at prices "too good to be true" with many thousands of dollars discounted on them. Some of these are $15,000 valued coins being listed for $1,000. It appears that these coins are being sold on eBay on the same day as they are being listed here. These are being listed by sellers who are brand new to the site, with accounts created within the last 24-48 hours and they have NO feedback history with us.

At this time, we highly recommend extreme caution when dealing with brand new members, with no feedback history, who are listing high-valued items at prices that seem "too good to be true". If you come across these listings, please report them immediately so we can ban their accounts".

July 22, 2020

Silver Halves, Dollars, and Silver Eagles at "Too Good to Be True" Prices

We have received a number of reports of a scammer using multiple usernames and listing Silver Eagles, Silver Morgan Dollars, half dollars and other silver bullion coins at prices that are "too good to be true". We have banned a number of their accounts and their IP addresses, here are some examples:

ZBarrazaCoins
JaysonAlexander916
JayJonah1999
Jayalexander1199
JonahsBullion
CaliforniaRareCoins
ValleyNumismatic
JaysonNumismatics
ToddsCollection

Their most common item is the sale of 4 or 5 silver eagle bullion coins or Morgan dollars, or 8-10 silver half dollars (and similar small silver bullion lots) being sold at deeply discounted prices. They are signing up with new accounts with 0 feedback history. We recommend that buyers use caution at this time when purchasing from brand new sellers with no feedback history, especially if they are listing silver bullion at "too good to be true" prices. We recommend caution with any new seller with no feedback. Our system will continue to automatically gather up more info, such as seller movement, network/browser data, WebRTC/IP data silently in the background for the FBI, as well as automatically banning accounts before sales happen, when detected early enough.

For any buyers who purchased from these sellers, we recommend halting all payments if they haven't been made already. If you've already sent payment, we recommend initiating PayPal disputes against this scammer in order to get a PayPal Buyer Protection refund.

February 28, 2020

Buyers sending out fake money orders - Sellers with counterfeit coins

There has been a recent uptick in scammers on the site. If you are a seller who accepts checks and money orders, please beware. We received a report today of a buyer by the name of "Jack Keller" who sent out a fake money order for high valued coins. Luckily, the seller did not ship these coins out until waiting for the money order to be cleared or not. This is a reminder for sellers to never ship anything out until you've received a 100%, fully cleared payment.

This buyer has been reported to the authorities and could ultimately be charged with felonies, punishable by many years in prison. This is a warning for any potential scammers, including those who live internationally, who can still easily be tracked down by the FBI and Interpol.

In addition, there are a number of new sellers with 0 feedback history, listing fake coins for thousands of dollars or some at "too good to be true" prices. Many of these fake coins are obvious to nearly everyone, but sometimes it is not so obvious. However, it is still a crime, subject to being reported to the authorities. Many of the fake coins include Draped Bust Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars, some of the most commonly counterfeited coins being sold from overseas. Some of these sellers have been successfully arrested by authorities internationally in the past for attempting to sell counterfeits. We delete these fake listings as soon as we become aware of them, such as when other users report these listings. Please note that it is illegal to sell Reproduction coins - UNLESS the coin bears the word "COPY" stamped on it. On USA Coin Book, these types of coins must follow the law and must only be listed in the Replicas and Reproductions category.

November 18, 2016

Sellers not shipping coins out and not responding to messages

We received some complaints from a few buyers regarding 2 sellers who sold coins to them, but never shipped them out after payment and have stopped responding to communication attempts. We have recently banned the following accounts below:

The first seller goes under the username: vera7028 - Real Name: Eric Viers

The second seller goes under the username and is a newer member: reasonablechange - Real Name: Charles Bennett

We found that this second seller also had a number of other usernames ( cdbenn, diesel78, murdock00, babygirl7400 ) which we banned many months ago, so keep an eye out for any new sellers using a similar name.

If you have purchased coins from these sellers and have not received them, we HIGHLY recommend initiating a PayPal dispute. PayPal's Buyer Protection is excellent in recovering money in cases like this when a seller doesn't ship out their coins and does not respond to messages. PayPal's Buyer Protection also has a 180 window from the time of purchase in which you can initiate a dispute, so it is best to let PayPal know about it as early as possible. This is why we also HIGHLY recommend using PayPal as the preferred payment method so that buyers can be protected in cases like this.

If you have paid for coins and have not received them after a reasonable amount of time, please report them to us so we can attempt to contact them or lock their account if necessary.

April 18, 2015

Seller listing coins at prices too good to be true - multiple accounts

We received a number of complaints and reported items regarding a seller who is signing up under multiple usernames and listing coins at prices "too good to be true". They originally listed 1 ounce gold coins for $100 - which were worth $1,300 and also sold rare coins at extremely discounted prices. Luckily we were able to ban most of the accounts before anyone purchased anything. Here is a list of the large number of usernames they attempted to use since 3/22/2016:

abp
abp012
abraham
alberto
albertp0
albrt
albrt0
albrtk
american
betterdate
blank
blee31236
bogggs
buu
cc33
chris012
chrispinsoncp
chriszcoinz
chrpin12
cin
clp
coinzclp
coro123
cruz0
daves2166
dennis0
dilldollar
flying79
gg03
gg3
heagen
iverson
jay
jaygen
jayhgn
jgen
jheagen
jhgn
jjgen
jk111
jk1224
jkell
jkelley01
jkelly
joannscollectibles
jodkdl
joe111
joek
joseph
josph
kendallrobertson
lehkarmavore
lekarmavore
manswag36
mgwcoins
michaelpam1
michelle3
mlawrence
mmijad
nickeh
nickelnick
nickk
nlee84
nucka
ohnickel
onickel
pinson
pinson0
psykskallar
registo
rodgercoins
rodgerharris
seanishere
shibug
shyalious
sleepy
spook1970
stop02
tmk112
vipir

If you purchased anything from any of the usernames above using PayPal, we highly recommend contacting PayPal to request a refund. PayPal's Buyer Protection is excellent in refunding money in cases like this. In the meantime, we are working with PayPal and making test payments in order to track down the scammer and gather any additional information. If you have any additional information regarding this seller, we recommend reporting it to the Internet Crime Complain Center (ic3.gov), as they are involved with the FBI and local law enforcement, and they were successful in busting previous scammers on USA Coin Book in the past.

At this time, we HIGHLY recommend being extra cautious when purchasing items from new sellers with no feedback history, especially if they are also offering coins at prices "too good to be true".

December 20, 2015

Seller Listing Counterfeit Coins - Newberry, Florida and New York

We received a recent report of a scammer listing very high-valued counterfeit coins and silver bullion coins. We found that they also had another account we banned a few years ago. Luckily no one was scammed on USA Coin Book as this was caught in time, but here are the two usernames we have banned:

southernrarecoins
Allen (banned in 2012)

Also, here are the addresses for these usernames:

Jerry Fox
P.O. Box # 954
Newberry, Florida, 32669

Allen White
P.O. Box # 421
Newberry, Florida, 32669

In the report that we received, this member is also using the alias "Jeff White" and is based out of New York, so keep an eye out for any suspicious members that have similar information and/or address info. As always, use due diligence when purchasing any high-valued items from new members with no feedback history.

May 4, 2013

Scammer with multiple accounts - Fake Checks

We have been notified of a buyer who has purchased a number of coins from various sellers. It appears that they are contacting members through private messages and/or buying coins using checks and money orders. Some sellers have reported that the checks are indeed fake and will not clear at the bank. Never ship your coins out until your checks clear and when you have actually received payment. We found that they have 5 usernames (based out of Evansville, Indiana again under a different IP address branch) and have banned them until further notice:

morgandollardmpl
krccoin
krccoin111
krcllc
bkauctions

Also, sellers can "Cancel" their invoices with this buyer - which will delete the invoices, automatically re-list your coins for sale as they were before and remove any USA Coin Book fees based on those invoices. To do this, please view your "Sold" invoices list and select "Cancel Invoice" from the dropdown options on the items you have sold to this buyer. Always remember: Never ship out your coins until your payment is secure in the bank, especially with checks and money orders.

January 29, 2013

Scammer with multiple accounts - Bounced Checks

We have been notified of a buyer who has purchased a number of coins from various sellers. It appears that they made a few small legit payments to boost their feedback rating and then sent bounced checks for larger, more expensive orders. We found that they have 4 usernames and have banned them until further notice:

lincoln007
superiorinvestmentsllc
sigincorp
superiorcapitalgroup

It appears to be the same scammer from July 27, 2012 with similar usernames, but operating from a different location based out of Evansville, Indiana. To any sellers who have sold coins to "lincoln007" or the above usernames, please be cautious.

July 27, 2012

Scammer under multiple accounts

We have been notified by various buyers and seller about a member not sending out coins and not paying for coins. Upon further research, we found that this member has 10 different accounts:

ahgalleries
dbkcoin
heritagenumismaticservices
naacoin
kingnumismatics
superiorcoinstamp
jlcoin
srcoin
superiorcoinbullion
superiorcoin
scgscoin

These 10 accounts have been locked until further notice. Apparently, this member is not responding to most emails but has been willing to return money to some members using Google Checkout or PayPal. In the past, this member has apparently been fair, but there is no way to tell if they are tricking members with false positive feedback. Either way, we recommend ceasing all sales and transactions as well as getting any money back from this member considering the suspicious activities of these 10 accounts.

March 20, 2012

Russian Buyer Scam Alert

We were notified today by seller and PayPal about a fraudulent buyer from Russia going by the names collectman and Uncharted. They signed up at USA Coin Book using a stolen PayPal account and are buying coins from sellers. After sellers have shipped out coins, PayPal discovers the buyer account was stolen, tries to recover the funds from the seller and the seller loses the payment and coins. This scammer was using the follow shipping addresses and names:

Oleg Akmurzaev
St. Lenina 73 35
Yoshkar-Ola, Mari-El, 424003
Russia

Eduard Akmurzaev
Kirova 11V 22
Yoshkar-Ola, Mari-El, 424000
Russia

We have locked both of these accounts, so they won't be allowed to purchase coins. This message is a warning for sellers to be on the lookout for any suspicious buyers and addresses like this. If you encounter this seller with another account name, do not ship the coins out and report them to us so that we can block them. Also, report the buyer to PayPal and local law enforcement. When you have to refund money in this case, we will refund the fees back to your account as well.

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