A counterfeit coin and holder- a step forward for PCGS?

I posted this on PCGS' CU forum as well...

As many know the counterfeiters use active cert #'s for the holders for their counterfeits.

NGC has images for most online certs, PCGS does not and can be an easy mark.

NGC will quickly respond when notified of a c/c using their cert number as the 1st image shows:



So, this counterfeit was unfortunately sold:





Had the buyer looked up the cert he would have seen this:


Again, this is the 1st time I have seen PCGS be pro-active like this and a good step forward in my opinion!

 

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Does anybody know where PCGS and the other TPG companies make their slabs ? I hope it's not China.

 

Jack, your activism is duly noted and even more so, appreciated greatly. Thank you for being a pioneer to spearhead these issues.

 

China. So it is easy to get extra plastic slabs - overruns.

 

I reported a coin to pcgs. The cert is still active. How does one get this done?

 

With NGC when looking up certs, you have a drop down menu where you have to select the holders numerical grade. Does PCGS do this? Not fool proof, but an added layer of protection. But I'm glad to see TPGs being proactive in counterfeiting. I'm not a purist when it comes to the grading company when I buy coins, owning coins from ANACS, NGC, PCGS and ICG. But I know some are and I think I could see an advantage to this as people might be more familiar after looking at a companies slabs repeatedly. Kind of like when you see a counterfeit or error coin in a series you collect. Kinda sticks out like a sore thumb when you see it. Should be some transference in that regard.

 

For me, the giveaway is the .9999 on the label.
Good job on the research and follow up.

 

Shhhhhhh!!!!

 

Garlicus, posted: "For me, the giveaway is the .9999 on the label..."

That's nice. So what do you see?

 

I report them to PCGS as well; seems to take some time for them to respond...

 

I did receive a response from the PCGS Mod which I thought rather lame in terms of the issue:

 

These people have enough money to buy gold yet not enough brains to even check the cert? I'm sure when they receive it the first thing they're going to do is scan it for the nfc tag....

 

I don't get it. That's exactly what the real ones say.

The PCGS one has the correct info in the barcode - many of these I've seen online don't bother getting the barcode correct so using a free barcode scanner app is a good line of defense in many cases, but obviously not foolproof. I imagine they'll be faking the NFC tags too - if it's possible they'll do it.

 

I contacted pcgs about a coin once and they told me that the only way they could help me is if I bought the coin and sent it to them.

 

Comes across as a boilerplate ad that is saying "You should send in all your coins again to get them into the latest and safest holder." (And pay us LOTS of money.)

 

It's Heather. That's what she does over there.

 

Well it was one of their high up marketing people so pretty expected

There's not really anything they can do other than kill the cert anyways and keep working on new things for future slab security

 

I'm sure the Chinese counterfeiter's laugh at how easy it is to steal from Americans.

 

I didn’t compare the labels, that was just the first thing that I noticed that would have made me suspicious.

 

Honestly, that’s where I stopped looking. Was busy at the time, and haven’t been back to check it out.