Tag Archives: Jack D. Young

Rise of Virtual Counterfeits

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By Jack D. Young

It’s bad enough there are so many counterfeits in the marketplace but now you have to be on the lookout for stolen and/or photoshopped images as well–basically, these are “virtual counterfeits”!

The bad 1928 Peace dollars continue to hit listings, with my previous Proxiblog article on these published this past week.  One of the sellers using photoshopped images for a 1928-S listing had these three listed in her selling history:

3 Past eBay listings of PCGS Gold Buffalos

A friend who helps me report bad eBay listings for removal often talks about “fake sales”–sales shown to make the seller appear more successful or “trustworthy” than they may actually be. These can be done by friends and/or the same seller under a different seller ID. Often the same item shown sold then shows “relisted.”…

So, starting with the 2017, it shows sold twice but with a relist, so who knows? May have been the only bid the 1st time. Images used originally came from the Heritage auction listed on the PCGS online cert.

PCGS online cert; no TrueView image but lists auction appearance

The Bay seller’s 2nd listing used the same images as well; no way to know what actually sold, as the seller stated she was “selling them for a friend.”…

Some additional searching found an AliExpress example for sale:

AliExpress listing for the 2017 Buff using Heritages auction images

Both “sellers” are using Heritage’s images without authorization, and I did notify my contact there. Ali description is clearly not of a genuine coin, so again who knows what one is buying!

And then the 2018; this one just looks bad! I would guess the Bay lister photoshopped a genuine coin into the bad slab/ label. The reverse image used is of the previous Heritage 2017 example!

eBay listed “2018 PCGS” gold Buff; same reverse as “2017” above

The PCGS online cert has an image of the genuine coin but not one in the slab; it certainly doesn’t look like this one. …

PCGS on-line cert and TrueView image

Comparison image of the Bay listed example obverse to the genuine example from the PCGS cert shows the Bay example image is not a good choice:

Bad Bay example on the left, genuine example on the right

And I also found the Ali offering for this one!

AliExpress listing for the 2018 Buff using their images

Looks like the AliExpress 2018 Buff is the only listed example here that a buyer would actually receive. …

I did check the seller’s feedback and she had received 1 for the three “sold” Buffs:

Seller Feedback for the “2018” gold buffalo listing

I was curious about the note “verified purchase” and looked it up. Per eBay, “We’ve added this text to remove any doubt that the person leaving the feedback was involved in the transaction.”

Wow! The coin imaged in the positive feedback doesn’t look anything like the seller’s listing image, so “verified” obviously didn’t mean what I initially thought!

eBay feedback image of the coin received?

Love the little dog, the “coin” not so much, as I have seen a number of fakes like this in fake NGC holders. Image isn’t clear enough to check the cert, but clear enough to see it isn’t the PCGS one!

It is getting harder to keep up with all the ways scammers and the like are challenging collectors and the Hobby.

Note: To read more Jack D. Young Reports, go to the archive tab on Proxiblog.

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PCGS certified, well, something?

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By Jack D. Young

We have discussed and documented a large number of counterfeits for sale in various venues since I started this journey of writing attribution articles on them! And in this latest installment for Proxiblog, we have a couple of unusual twists and turns starting as usual with an interesting eBay listing.

A friend posted the suspect coin recently listed on the Bay on the MyCollect forum. Although he didn’t save a screenshot of the seller’s listing, he did save images of the coin, a 1928 PCGS MS65 Peace dollar.

eBay imaged suspect example (call it “2255” from cert)

What made it especially interesting was the label cert number brought up an on-line PCGS cert of a different coin! Scanning the front barcode with my on-line software resulted in a “no scan,” but the reverse QR code read the correct cert number but directed to the “CN” PCGS site. We have seen this before with fake coins in counterfeit holders, but this one seemed different. Even though it doesn’t match the actual certed example there was nothing that stood out as counterfeit on the listed “coin.”

Online PCGS cert verification and image for noted cert #
QR code scan for the suspect example “2255”

Doing my standard deep dive of the internet for more information I found the same coin had been posted in another forum and the OP saved an image of his report of the listing; it did show the seller’s ID. After the listing was removed the seller went “no longer a registered user.”

Initial Bay lister of “2255”

The first twist came when I found a similar imaged PCGS slab and coin on AliExpress; the difference was the label and cert # were different, but everything else appeared to be the same image including the reverse toning spots on both. This cert led to a genuine example and matching images from a past Heritage auction noted on the PCGS online cert.

Ali listing of “9808”
Online PCGS cert verification and image for the 2nd noted cert # “9808”

So the seller on Ali is inappropriately using Heritage’s images to sell “something.”

Continued dumpster diving led to a new seller listing one like the first example; listing was reported and was removed. Seller seems to have gone dormant since this listing but is one to continue to watch.

2nd eBay listing of the “2255” example

So, to sum it up at this point there appears to be two scams here:

First, photoshopped images using a genuine coin but wrong cert # (“2255” example) to sell “something” on the Bay.

Second, images of the same genuine one with correct cert # (“9809” example) to sell “something” direct from AliExpress. I suspect they are connected somehow.

And then another major twist when I performed my daily Bay brouse and found this gem from a brand-new seller (member since 10-21-24):

10-22-24 Bay listing of apparent counterfeit 1928 Peace dollar and slab
10-22-24 Bay listing (on the left) PhotoShopped label/ “2255” example (on right)
10-22-24 Bay listing (on the left) photoshopped label/ “2255” example (on right)

The “coin” is obviously not the same as the genuine one, but the counterfeiters tried to misorient it (rotate it in the holder) to look like the genuine example. The gasket fit is poor, another tell-tale sign of a bad holder and again the reverse QR code scans to the “CN” PCGS site.

This listing was also removed; seller stated he could go down to $500 for it.

So, how could this get worse (or more confusing) you may ask! Well, the AliExpress listing updated their image to a different genuine coin, another with similar coin orientation in the holder and sold in a 2021 Heritage auction.

Latest AliExpress listing
Heritage listing for this cert number (“4678”)

Definitely a different coin; one has to wonder where this will stop!

Heritage images of “4678”

So, more Heritage stolen images for an AliExpress listing for “something.”

And maybe the final twist: I decided to find out what one actually receives when buying the Ali “9088” listed version!

And I received this 11-05-24 in a package marked “Storage box” for US Customs:

Package received

And the “coin”! Advertised off Ali’s site on the top, received on the bottom:

Advertised (top) received (bottom) See any differences?

I have started the return/ refund process; but, from a previous article I wrote about reporting bad coins listed on Ali through their process I have little confidence much will come of it.

I did determine “counterfeit” is not an acceptable reportable topic there.

So ends another journey; it is getting really hard to keep up with all the ways scammers and the like are challenging the Hobby.

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