Mostly, you have to take people at face value, but over the years, I have wondered how often we identify, authenticate, attribute, and evaluate stolen merchandise. Burglary is a well-defined and well-known kind of criminal enterprise. It is not a crime of passion. It is not caused by low impulse control or vitamin deficiency or social stratification. Burglary is a crime of planful competence. Electronics are easy targets, the newer the better. Valuables are in only a few place: the top dresser drawer, under the socks and underwear; maybe there's a jewelry box. Under the bed, clothes closet top shelf in back; some times bottom corner. After that, you are running out of time. The last thing a burglar wants is a confrontation with a victim: better to be caught by the police. If the shiny big coins are in hard plastic holders with expensive sparkly doodads, they are easy to fence. Anything the fence rejects, maybe you can ask around about; might be worth something. So, time and again, anonymous usernames ask us about coins or things that are not theirs -- found this; my grandfather; my mother inherited; old box; uncle passed; came across -- and as common things are common, the stuff is not worth anything, or is fake.
Interesting post, and it brings to mind a concern I sometimes have..as a poster of those type of questions you have listed, a disturbing thought goes through my mind, fleetingly through the BACK of my mind, who amongst the 'anonymous usernames' might be watching this question and that, putting info together...? Many things I m i g h t like to ask, but for that reason do not... Just thinkin' Lucy
Mike I have also wonder some of those same things with those type of posts. However I have not been concern about others gathering information concerning me on this forum. Since I live in a small town I kind of doubt, someone would travel here with the purpose of stealing coins from me. Local folks knowing I collect is a bigger concern. Don
I can see where you are coming from, but I think when anyone says they got this from grandpa or grandma, or father or their mother I tend to take them at their word. Why? Because that is how I got interested in the hobby, dad passed on and left what was left of his collection. I have talked to many others who became interested in the hobby in the same way. So I do not think I am alone in coming to the hobby through a relatives leaving a collection.
You raise a valid point, Mike, and taking it one step further, if we are to believe tv shows like CSI and NCIS, there is no one who can hide their location from prospective thieves simply by posting under an alias. Chris
I have wondered the same thing, however it is the nature of the beast. Whether the world we live in is digital or analog, coin theft is a real problem. I would figure that a very small percentage of 'finds' on here are stolen. I think it is more of a problem in the brick and mortar shops. I base my opinion on the following experiences. I have been doing business with the same coin shop for 20+ years and I visit once every 3 months on average in the last couple years. At least three times, while shopping, young men in puffy jackets and baggy pants come in with several ounces of silver to sell. Of course, you can feel the nervous energy among the clientele in the shop, because we all KNOW the stuff is stolen or was payment for something illegal. The shop owner abides by the law of course, he takes photocopies of their ID's, signed statements of legitimacy, etc. and buys their metal and treats them just like anyone else. (Though he may shave his buy price a couple bucks.) I think the local shops see alot more stolen product in a month than has been seen on CoinTalk since its beginning. By the nature of any stolen product, all the thief is looking for is money, they don't care about getting what something is "worth". That's why you can buy a $500 TV off a crackhead $30. So, I don't think much of it shows up here, because they don't care what it is "worth". They are spending their time out there trying to sell it for whatever they can get. On the subject of online anonymity, Chris is right, there is no such thing. It is part of our nature as humans to share things about ourselves with each other. I used to do skip trace work for collections, and I can guarantee you that everyone leaves a trail. The folks on here who have made hundreds and thousands of posts (including myself) share tiny slivers of our life without knowing it. I would bet that you could look back through the posts of many members here and assemble enough personal info to go to any publicly available 'whitepages' type site and find address, phone number, etc. We are humans and humans share, it is just our nature.
80% of Your Problems Thanks for the replies. Right. The statistics of what "most burglars" or "very few criminals" do still allow for minorities and exceptions. Most burglars are planfully competent, not impulsive, but they are not overly hard working, either. Very few criminals would surf the numismatic message boards to find victims because it is too much effort. Every police department knows that 80% of their problems come from 20% of their addresses ...rich or poor, city or village... People are people: rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, Indian chief. Your 1000+ posts made you a valued member of our community long ago. It is the one-time query that worried me. And I agree that the one post might lead to others as someone new comes into the hobby. Our wedding anniversary was yesterday. It was a small ceremony in her parents' home. But my wife wondered what ever happened to ... So, she looked him up. Married twice, kids, living here, working there. Facebook, LinkedIn ... just Google will start the process... But, as my reply to Lucy and in Farstaff's original post, traveling to small towns across America is more work than the rewards will bring. Most male burglars victimize their neighbors, while most female burglars go into other neighborhoods. That's about as far as it goes. Following coin dealers from national conventions is for a different kind of criminal; and it takes a different kind of prevention. Both good points, B. I don't see much need to dwell on this. In criminology we speak of the "mass mediated" reality of crime: our opinions are only reflections of our views shown back to us magnified by TV, movies, the internet. The people most fearful of crime are the ones who never actually experience it. It is a simple fact that most people in most times and places are mostly honest. Newt Gingrich used to have a riff about trust in a market society. "You pick up the phone, call an 800 number, give your credit card to someone you never met and never will; and the next morning you show up at the airport actually expecting a ticket to be there." Trust works.
I agree with all the posts on this subject. Interesting that you mention part's principle..my husband used that a lot in most aspects of life, though I had not heard it regarding criminals; interesting. Naively trusting for my first 47 years, perhaps I have gone a bit overboard into the "Red" zone (or is it orange?). Guess I watch too much ncis, for I am not totally convinced that most are honest..I try to believe that. Buy
A couple of years ago, one of the dealers (whom I will not mention by name) who is a member of the NGC forums told us about a fairly expensive coin that he sent to a man on approval. After not hearing from him, he tried to contact him and learned that he apparently fled the state. Knowing only his name, some of the other NGC members went to work on their computers, and in less than 72 hours found him in another state and the coin was recovered. Chris
+1 Personally think you will find more stolen coins on craig's list than here. You meet someone exchange cash and never remember who you met or how you got them. I have told many that this is the new fencing place for criminals! You don't have to be smart and anyone can post! Just as stated above crooks want money and it doesn't have to be max value. I imagine they start at 50% of what they think it's worth and then work their way down. They need to get rid of stuff because they are usually known criminals by police. The worst thing would be to be caught with it than getting nothing for it. Craig's List (The Place to Fence Your Goods!)
