Look out for Fraud

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by ToughCOINS, Oct 26, 2022.

  1. ToughCOINS

    ToughCOINS Dealer Member Moderator

    There are numerous forms of fraud out there that should concern industry participants, and some can look deceptively innocuous to those who aren't yet aware of it.

    I constantly get emails inquiring about purchases. From established customers they are most welcome, but many also come from out of the blue. When I'm not familiar with the interested party, I scrutinize the email carefully.
    • Who is it coming from? An established business or collector already known to me, even if we've not done business before?
    • If a business, was the email sent during business hours for their locale? Example . . . sent at 2:30 AM EST from an Ohio dealer.
    • Is the composition of the email literate, without errors in diction, grammar (tense in particular) or spelling?
    • Do they include familiar expressions, themes, or even duplication of content used in previous inquiries identified as suspicious?
    I've received multiple emails this past week, all identical except for the email address, signature and locale, the content reading as follows . . .

    "Hello, I am interested in purchasing 3 pieces of any one ounce gold coin or any $20 liberty common date. Also please let me know if you accept Visa Or Master payment, will you be able to deliver to Fort Myers, FL. I'm looking forward to your reply. Thank you Kind Regards, ________.
    Big red flag! I don't accept credit card payments directly . . . only through PayPal, and only when I'm able to deliver in accordance with their requirements for seller protection. My preference is to use checks and money orders instead. Old school works better for me.

    I've even received such inquiries about coins from familiar email addresses hacked by ne'er-do-wells. One of our most notable members (unnamed) with whom I do a bit of business knows exactly what I'm writing about, as both his and his wife's email addresses have been hacked and used to contact me. We continue to do business with each other, but not using those addresses.

    In a nutshell, the predators are everywhere, and you need to be on the lookout for them.

    Don't drop your guard at the prospect of a profitable sale . . . it could well end up a larger loss.

    Mike
     
    lordmarcovan, imrich, -jeffB and 11 others like this.
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  3. Randy Abercrombie

    Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

    Mike... This is a common tactic in the supply business as well. Emails are worded almost exactly the same way. They come into our webpage contact email. I used to have a website that I could check and verify known email scammer addresses but I haven't used it in a long time. I just came to recognize the approach and simply delete them these days.

    But you are 100% correct. There are a lot of folks looking to take advantage of the rest of us. I would say what I would like to do to every one of them.... But this is a family oriented site.
     
    Monstermommy and -jeffB like this.
  4. ToughCOINS

    ToughCOINS Dealer Member Moderator

    Keeping it family-friendly, if we gave them all 5 Chinese finger traps, they'd have to invest a lot more time typing those fraudulent emails with their nosies or their toesies.
     
    Randy Abercrombie likes this.
  5. masterswimmer

    masterswimmer A Caretaker, can't take it with me

    Mike, like you eluded to, there are many iterations of that same letter phishing for the unsuspecting and naive recipient. I've received many worded very similar to the one you posted.

    So very often I've wanted to respond just to waste their time. Then one day I came across a Ted Talk presenter, James Veitch, who did just that. This video is short, funny and puts the time and effort into documenting the email exchange between him and the scammer. Enjoy....

    https://www.ted.com/talks/james_veitch_this_is_what_happens_when_you_reply_to_spam_email?language=en
     
  6. ToughCOINS

    ToughCOINS Dealer Member Moderator

    Thanks for that . . . :hilarious:.
     
    masterswimmer likes this.
  7. Silverpop

    Silverpop Well-Known Member

    odd thing they can't get past my spam filter:happy:
     
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