Do I have to legally return the money?? Help!!!! Am I Going to Jail?

Ok so I bought 20 silver panda coins from china, I got a good price. I wanted to make sure they were 100% real so I took me to 3 coin shops, all 3 coin shops said they were 100% real. I had one of the coin shops acid test the silver and it passed. They then offered me $35.00 for each coin, I sold them! I asked them if they would want to buy more and the said hell yes, so I placed another order with china for the same coins, but a way bigger order. When I got the 240 coins in I took them down to the same coin shop and they wrote me a check for over $8,000.00. They dated the check for that day but asked me to wait to cash it till the next day. The next day rolls around so I go to the bank on my lunch break and cash the check. About a hour later the coin shop calls me up and tells me that I need to come and give them the money back because they did more testing and found out they were fake. They said if I don’t they will call the cops and press charges for felony fraud! I already spent a lot of the money, so I don’t have. I took the coins to “experts” so something like this wouldn’t happen! I don’t feel I did anything wrong and I would rather not go to jail for trusting 3 “coin experts”!!!!

 

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From your note...you had the first 20 checked. Did you have the 240 checked?

If not, the dealer is looking at the first 20 as a setup to sell the bigger number. Now, as an expert, he should have checked before paying you that kind of money...but if he asked you not to cash the check until he had time to check them...different situation. Not sure on the legal ramifications here...may want to get a professional opinion on that.

 

Sorry to answer your question with a question but.....How did you pay for these last 240 which you got from China & what did you pay for them?

Also, howboutatrade asked if you had the 240 checked. Did you?

 

I did not have the 240 check by any one other then the coin shop I sold to, also they did know they came from china and they want a full refund even though they can't return all the coins because they sold some of them, about 70. they said they are going to let that 70 go becuase they are already in circulation.

 

I paid 25 USD a coin and I used my debit card.

 

So they sold some of them knowing they were fake?
Sounds suspicious.

 

they said they didn't know at that point. same thing I did if you ask me.

 

yeah... and im not a lawyer or anything... but they would have a hard time proving fraud right? there is absolutely no evidence of fraud.

that being said... you can DEFINITELY not go to jail for this... this would be a civil matter. they can sue you, but the cops cannot arrest you. unless the coins are stolen.

 

For starters, you bought silver from China at $25/oz and thought it was real? That speaks for itself.

Did you sign anything? If not, I think the dealer is SOL. I definitely wouldn't give him a full refund at any rate without getting everything back.

 

you should try to work a deal with them to refund a partial amount of the money.. say $30/coin so you cover your shipping costs - minus- the 70 coins they already sold? might save you from being sued etc.

still sounds very fishy though

 

I wouldn't have spent any of the money for about one week. I think you now see why. My bank would not have given credit for that check into my account for at least 24 hours. So if they called you on the same day of deposit, the bank probably would have given it back to you. Again, my bank would have only given cash back up to the balance of your existing deposits. Second of all, the coin dealer will just put a stop payment on his check and you will be charged back by your bank. Then it will be up to you to proceed with legal action and not him. Either way you are going to have to come up with the money. (Until you go to court and if you win.) Good luck.

 

I only bought 20 OZ becuase I was willing to rick the $300.00 to find out if they were real or not. once all the experts said they were not only silver but 100% real china pandas I went all in.

 

Ya I cashed the check, and there was no hold because me and the coin shop bank at the same place.

 

I would strongly suggest you talk to a lawyer. There is more to this case than simply who is responsible for redeeming counterfeit coins IMO.

BTW, one thread at a time with the same topic.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that you need to contact a lawyer. Bottom line. There are way to many ways to look at this situation. No one here can answer this question. Laws vary from state to state and city to city.

 

You need a lawyer, brother. And I don't mean all the "Sea Lawyers" on this forum.

Go hire yourself an attorney ASAP. They get paid to give sound legal advice.

 

Yep, try to find a lawyer as i doubt the coin shop will let this go... sad though, it's not really anyones fault except maybe theirs for not testing the second batch before they bought.. right?

 

If it were me I would say the coin shop is SOL because they could have tested the second batch as well. Why wouldn't they test them? If they sold some without checking them out first, and knowing they sold fakes and not even trying to contact the buyers, then that is quite shady. I would say the dealer is out. Although since you knowingly bought them for $25/oz (which is clearly not silver, or atleast not a full ounce) it would be easy to say that you knew they were fake. Lawyer might not be a bad idea, even if its just for reserve in case this escalates.

 

Unless you knew they were not authentic and sold them anyway, you have nothing to worry about. There's no law anywhere that says you have to refund him his money. Unless you signed a document that says explicitly that you will return their money for any reason, then you have no worries. Morally, you should help this guy get his money back from the person that sold them to you, but you are under no legal obligation whatsoever. The buyer is the "expert", not you. He saw them, he had the right to refuse them and he didn't. End of the story

 

Nevek, its never good business to have anything to do with the edited Chinese. The people you sold the coins to, say they knowingly sold the fakes to others and are not recalling them ??? They sound shady to me, how would you know they are not switching previously purchased fakes for the real ones you sold them ???? I would learn a lesson from this. Keep the money.