This afternoon I searched the internet for auctions and came across something strange. A seller on Catawiki, an auction platform, offers coins that various dealers on vcoins and Ma-Shops still have in stock. I find this quite strange. I have often read that Catawiki does little against scammers, but this is the confirmation for me. https://www.catawiki.nl/l/35827615-...tian-ad-81-96-rome-mint-struck-ad-95-6-zilver https://www.ma-shops.nl/koelnermuenzkabinett/item.php?id=29871 Both coins are exactly the same. The strange thing is that the catawiki seller claims to be from France while the other dealer is Kolner Munzkabinett from Germany. However, it gets even stranger. https://www.catawiki.nl/l/35839529-romeinse-rijk-ar-denarius-caracalla-ad-198-217-rome-ad-215-zilver https://www.ma-shops.nl/henzen/item.php?id=41107 Again a coin that is also for sale by another dealer. Only this time not by Kolner but by the Dutch Munthandel Henzen. And to make it completely problematic. https://www.catawiki.nl/l/35812587-romeinse-rijk-ar-denarius-caracalla-198-217-ad-rome-ad-213-zilver https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/to...t_struck_213_ad_ric_206b/1247455/Default.aspx Three different coins that are also offered by another well-known dealer. In addition, the photos of this Catawiki dealer hardly differ from the photos of the real dealers. I have a strong impression that this is a scam. This dealer / scammer picks photos of attractive coins from the internet. He then adds the coins to the auction and hopes that someone place bids. If someone wins and pays the coin. He then no longer responds. Of course I have no hard evidence for this state of affairs. But I find it quite strange. What is your impression of this?
Wouldn't a scammer be better off picking pictures from coins on sale years ago? My bet is this person hopes the winning bids is high enough for him to buy the coin from the store and send it to you. -> arbitrage heb je nog vragen? (I picked this from the nl site; it's so similar to German)
Makes sense. Note that out of six buyers gave their 'thumb down' to the seller and say they never received the coin they won. Possibly the CW bid there was under the price from V-coins/ MA...
In itself this is a realistic option. I just wonder how much profit such a seller would make on coins like this if he bought and resold Ma-Shops and VCoins coins. With a bit of luck he could make a profit of 10 to 20 euros. I think few people do it for so little money.
My impression of people doing crimes like this, is that things aren't really well planned. We're probably not up against Lex Luthor here, but some desperate soul out there. So it could be just stolen photos, or Agrigantus' theory. The most important thing is to not bid, I guess. I wonder how he/she planned to succeed with this? Maybe not getting caught wasn't part of the plan anyway.
Most of the people doing such things are morons. They just don't realize the energy they put in making a few bucks from someone would generate ten times more profit should they work ! Q
I agree. I understand, but do NOT agree, that sellers can place their coins on various sites. Perhaps, auctioning them for a better price... taking advantage of arbitrage. However, as you said, Cuke, WHY? What is the true marginal benefit of all that effort, selling costs, and loss of time to gain marginal profits? Arbitrage works when you are moving billions in trading, bank funds, equities, etc. It comes to question: (and I am not saying this is true), but if you create fakes at "pennies on the dollar", that would be the only way to make profits... and then, in the LONG run, you get caught, shut down, prosecuted... then, was THAT worth it? LOL, years ago, when I was a wee lad, someone told me "If you are going to steal, steal a million!" LOL, today, a million would not be worth it! So change the phrase to say "steal a billion." Hmmm... if THAT happened, I am sure the people that lost the money would be VERY motivated to FIND YOU, if you tried to hide yourself someplace far away from where you stole. I figger, it just ain't worth any of it. Why lie, cheat, steal, etc. It just all comes back to roost in your nest. Here, i found a coin... RR Maianus 135 BCE AR Den Roma Biga S 82 Cr 203-1a
