Fake Coin Seller ID'd

Suspect Selling Counterfeits/Fakes

The subject identified below is traveling around the country selling Counterfeit/Fake
PCGS coins and raw gold. On or about November 13, 2014 the subject entered a shop in Littleton, Colorado and sold a coin shop a slabbed 1822 Bust dime and a 1893CC Morgan AU-50. On December 9, 2014 the same subject sold a shop in Burlington, Iowa a 1799 PCGS Bust dollar XF-40, 1822 Bust dime PCGS XF-45 and a raw 1oz Gold Buffalo all counterfeit/fake.

Owen, Gabriel Garet
Alias: Garet Owen
DOB: 9/30/1977
Residence: Atlanta, KS
Owen uses a Kansas driver's license and was last seen driving a white Navigator or Tahoe. The Numismatic Crime Information Center has identified Owen in several cases in Oklahoma, Kansas and South Carolina. Based upon his MO he is targeting coin and pawn shops.
A prior bulletin was sent out on Owen last year. We are attempting to verify a possible warrant that has been issued out of South Carolina but it has not been confirmed.
Anyone with information on this subject should contact:

Doug Davis

817-723-7231 or Doug@Numismaticcrimes.org

 

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Great I appreciate the information. I don't think he'll come to Cali but if the fool is reading this, c'mon down! There's plenty of coin shops who are armed to the teeth. And although he probably won't get shot, he'll definitely be taken down! Next I read about this fool is him heading to prison and getting his butt beat down really good! I hate reading about criminals like this taking money from hard working people in such a crooked way. Hang his sleazy butt!!

 

I blame the coin shops, they bought the slab, not the coin.

If they delegate the use of good judgement to someone else, they come up missing when their own judgement is crucial.

 

Seem's to me a coin shop would spot a fake.

 

There are some darn good fakes out there . Look at some of those old Mideast gold fakes . Most you can't tell are fake without looking for telltale tool marks which are hard to see .

 

I would love to personally handle one of these quality fake PCGS slabs to see how good they actually are! I want to look for some tell tale signs to catch them. Someone told me a website that sells them but they don't look good and they are very expensive to just buy one to handle/use as a teaching tool.

 

Well somehow these were found to be fake so they were not that good. Just say'n

 

You're right, here's some pics on vamworld. Maybe we can get one of the duped coin dealers to speak up, yeah I doubt that will happen. I think the criminal is pretty smart about where he goes to, he seems to hit up pawn shops quite a bit, so that explains a lot. Plus the criminal is a bit of a con man, you'd have to be to sell fake slabs to a professional. I'm surprised that so many members here are blaming the coin shop. We're talking about a criminal here folks. A criminal who takes advantage of people. By blaming the coin dealer, it minimizes the criminal's actions. Get real!

http://www.vamworld.com/share/view/26197629

 

One of the many reasons I wish PCGS et al. would automatically photograph each and every submission. Of course it would cost extra, but over the longer term it would save money for everyone.

 

I agree totally and I would hope that they don't pass on the cost to us. It doesn't take that long to take a pic especially if you're as big and organized as PCGS. I'm sure one of the company's will do it soon and the others will follow.

 

Just curious, but what is your source for this "Wanted" poster for an alleged thief crook?

 

I thought all the slabs had a number you could look up.

 

The number matches and the coin is the same kind of coin, that's how people get ripped off so easily.

 

I see. They go to the PCGS website. Find a coin and number that they have a copy of and slab it.

 

Could not agree more. I wish there was a way for them to go to shows and photo the non photo coins they previously have

 

Exactly! The Chinese counterfeiters and others are becoming deviously rich over our hobby and they're using every trick possible to make their sales continue. It's even more reason for the TPG's to take pics of every coin graded as Pcunix mentioned above.

 

I'm not surprised. There is a lot of "coin snobbery"
on coin talk. Many here prefer to blame a victim rather then a criminal. While many people and the United States of America believe that the criminal is liable, there are often comments about the victim not having the knowledge needed to collect coins.

I understand to an extent. I know nothing about art and would not know the difference between a $100 painting and a $1,000,000 one. So it makes sense for me not to buy art. When someone sells a $100 painting for $1,000,000 I don't have a problem with the situation unless there was a crime committed, usually fraud.

Coins though are somewhat more standardized. With tpg grading even though every coin is unique people with less experience and knowledge can buy coins relatively safer then other collecting hobbies.

Some here seem to be upset that someone who doesn't have a masters from coin talk university can buy nice coins in relative safety. And this seems to come across frequently.

A slim yet vocal minority here believe this concept should cover all aspects of your life. Buying counterfeit medications, counterfeit luxury goods, cars with miles rolled back on their odometer, foodstuffs that failed inspection yet were still being sold, sham medical or dental care, mortgage fraud, false charities and the list is endless are all the fault of the victim because no one can ever take advantage of you if you know better.

 

The counterfeiter can look up a legit coin , then use the same # and grade to match the fake coin to the legit coin .

 

Usually they prefer to use the Heritage auction archives, much easier to find a matching coin. If you have a fake coin it can be rather time consuming to find one on the PCGS certificate verification site, but you can go to Heritage, search for the coin and it pops up a bunch of slabbed examples for the crook to choose from for his fake slab label.

Fortunately it also makes it easier for us to spot fake labels because we can search for the number on Heritage as well and see if the photo of the coin there matches the coin in hand.

Have to admit I was under the impression that PCGS had started adding photos of all the coins the slabbed about 3 years after NGC stared doing it but after a review of the literature it turns out I was wrong. They did start adding pictures of all Secure Plus coins I think, and back in 2011 they added links to all examples of times when the coin had been auctioned so you can look at those pictures, plus any pictures of the coin that existed from it's appearance in Registry sets. I would agree though that images of ALL coins they slab would be even better. (Even if they start now they will be about seven years behind NGC's efforts.)