Selma Police are investigating a scam involving counterfeit coins.
A Raleigh man said he responded to a Craigslist ad where rare collectors coins were being offered through an estate sale. The seller, claimed to be an antique dealer in the Goldsboro area, was trying to liquidate 15 gold Indian Head coin sets and 13 Carson City Morgan silver dollars on behalf of a widow trying to close her husband’s estate.
The victim said the antique dealer was unable to meet with him last week but he claimed he would send the woman’s son. A meeting was then set up at Denny’s restaurant in Selma.
The victim said he paid a total of $4,500 for the coins, which later turned out to be fake. Attempts to contact the seller by phone or email was unsuccessful.
Selma Police seized the coins as part of their investigation.
Coin counterfeiting of valuable antique coins is very common. The counterfeits are often made to very high standards. For example, as many as 20,000 phony 1907 US $20 gold Double Eagle coins were believed to have been counterfeited in the 1970’s and sold by counterfeiters for a fraction of the cost of a real coin.
