I hope none of you fell victim to this parasite . . . https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/burnsville-coin-dealer-indicted-fraud-scheme
From then article, "When victims responded to the ads, SKOG would mail them lists of available coins for purchase."
It's not just seniors or as Pat alluded. There are a lot of folks very private about their hobby. They don't feel comfortable walking into a shop or attending a show, or using eBay, or many of the other more common venues today. There's no right or wrong about it, but said privacy does open them up to more unfortunate dealings and may be what we see here, at least in part.
A guy like this is an embarrassment to me and my fellow Minnesotans. Thanks for the post @ToughCOINS, as painful as it is to read about a slime ball like Skog. Steve
It's a real drag, as it is bad apples like this who have driven honest dealers away from dealing coins to Minnesotans.
That law has just been a big pain in the butt. Dishonest sellers weren’t about to bother with a license. Honest sellers complied, but they shouldn’t have had to. Steve
Wonder if that played a factor in Gary Adkins merging with David Lawrence. I miss his independent dealership. Got quite a few nice coins at nice prices from him.
Exactly. The only thing it really did for collectors there was cause many places to stop selling there. Which of course limits the options and really the more limited the options are the easier it becomes to run scams.
I did buy from this Skog guy 20 some years ago. I answered his ad in NN for JFK halves. I just bought a couple of what were supposed to be BU halves but when I got them they obviously were not. I was fairly new to buying then. Luckily I was only out like $5.
I did a Google search on Barry. He was busted back in 2010 for selling fake coins in fake PCGS slabs, stole money from his wife's (whom he was divorcing at the time) IRA account and gave it to his daughter, has had a few restraining orders and has had tax issues. What a guy!
Seems like a dumb way to make a buck. Those coins will get traded and looked at by experts. The more bogus coins you sell, the higher the chance is you'll be found out. You'd almost have to expect to get busted at a certain point. But criminals arent the brightest people after all.
Criminals do not have the conception that there are consequences — either good or bad — to any action. Call it self gratification run amok if you wish.