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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Hobo, post: 313552, member: 11521&quot;]My worst coin experience did not occur to me personally.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>One of my neighbors is an elderly widow (eightyish). She is a very nice woman. She keeps an eye on my house and picks up my mail for me when I am out of town. I have mentioned my interest in coins to her a few times through the years - mostly telling her about coin courses I am taking at ANA Summer Seminars.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>A few months ago I noticed two cop cars at her house. It turns out she had been buying coins from a boiler room - Atlantic Coin Galleries in NYC. They called her on the phone out of the blue and told her they had an investment-quality coin for sale that she couldn&#039;t pass up. It was worth $6,000 but she could buy it for only $2,200 (or some such figures). She said she didn&#039;t know anything about coins and didn&#039;t really want to buy it but they persisted and she relented and bought it. A few days later the coin arrived by FedEx.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Later they contacted her again. They used information gathered in their first conversation to personalize their future coversations, e.g., asking about relatives, neighbors, aches and pains, etc. My neighbor was raised back when you were supposed to be nice to strangers and not call bu11$hit on anyone and these scumbags take advantage of this. They gained her trust and sold her more coins - all great bargains - that she didn&#039;t want.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>This started in June. Thinking back I remember seeing FedEx trucks delivering packages to her on a fairly regular basis. I remember thinking she got more deliveries than me but I dismissed it as it is none of my business. A female driver also noticed she was getting an unusually large number of deliveries and asked her one day what she was getting. When my neighbor said she was buying coins the driver said she felt like it could be a scam.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The next time that driver had a coin delivery for my neighbor she brought along the cops. Another neighbor stepped in to help and took all the coins to a local coin dealer and the ANA to get their opinions. The dealer said the coins were worth 1/3 or less of what she paid. The ANA gave her some advice on what she could do to get the thieves shut down. My neighbor now has a lawyer working to try to recover some of her money. (I keep thinking about the phrase, &quot;Good money after bad&quot;.)</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I took a look through the coins and they were primarily common date gold (Liberty and Indian $2 1/2 &amp; $5) and Franklin &amp; Kennedy halves (unc. &amp; proof). None of the coins were graded; they were all in Capital 2X2 holder with self-grading lables and rolls (halves). All the coins appeared to be genuine but grossly overgraded. MS-65 gold coins had obvious wear. MS-67 Franklins had scratches and spots. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Bottom line, my neighbor spent over $32,000 on coins that may be worth $10,000 at the most. I think her money is long gone. I did notice a couple of envelopes where coins were delivered by USPS so I told her she should contact the Postal Inspector about mail fraud.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I asked my neighbor why she didn&#039;t ask me my opinion about these coins she was buying but she said she had forgotten I knew anything about coins. What a shame. I could have stopped her after the first coin and prevented future losses. Oh, well. I asked her what she learned from this experience and she said, &quot;Don&#039;t buy coins!&quot; I told her that buying coins is perfectly OK IF she buys from a reputable dealer and/or the coins are graded by a reputable grading service. But she has been burned and will never buy another coin.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I have no use for these scum that prey on the elderly like this. When I get some time I hope to put together a PowerPoint presentation about buying/investing in coins, where to buy coins, graded coins, what makes a coin valuable, etc. geared to elderly people. Nothing super detailed; just the basics so others don&#039;t make the same mistake as my neighbor. I thought nursing homes, assisted living facilities, etc. may be a good place to start.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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