Read here about Gail Quadros/Audrey Alves and her dodgy dealings, a major scammer now foiled and arrested, the London Mint Office and a new warning about Chinese scammers and Australian liars

 

I am writing this latest instalment in December 2007 and I thought it would be nice to comment on the villains of the last and previous years.

It seems to me that this year we have seen less fraudulent activity than in previous years and I am pleased to report that the various Chinese scams have not occurred recently. It may be that eBay has actually acted, just for a change.

There has been one large scam of a seller bulk selling sovereigns he did not have and I am pleased to report that he actually scammed a scammer who is in the habit of playing tricks on buyers. I have reported her to eBay a few times and at the moment I am watching. Read all about her later in this guide - she is in Sussex and has at least three accounts.

Many individuals have made honest mistakes with coins and listings and have acted responsibly when corrected and do not deserve to be shamed here. However, with Christmas coming, I have two new crooks to report and a potential third one, if he continues to ignore my emails, and some timely reminders for you.

Firstly, take a look at this item, number 220181112649:

 

  As most of you will know, there is no such thing as an 1879S double sovereign and yet this is what this seller is offering. I told him that the coin was fake and others also reported him to eBay and he reacted ...

... by relisting this as a buy it now and goldmont bought it as item 220181367044! I have told him that it is a fake but he has left positive feedback for the seller! So, think twice before buying from numismatica_luparia.

I think I have come across him before but in any case, I can tell you that for some reason this type of fake - an impossible coin - is often sold through Spain. My suspicion is that they come from North Africa.

Be careful when buying sovereigns from Spain, though I have bought from honest sellers there and have your copy of Spink to hand.

No sooner had I described the coin above than I found a similar example from Germany. Take a look at 230203263518:

      

A close look tells you that the designs on the obverse and reverse are too crude but of course, the clincher is that the veiled head only appeared from 1887-1893. So far there is one bid on this piece of rubbish, as 0f 14 December 2007. The seller behaved entirely properly and when he found that my information was correct, he withdrew the coin from sale - if only others would do the same.

As of 12 December 2007, here are two interesting coins, firstly item 150193464189:

   

This is supposedly a 1909M sovereign and the seller has had the cheek to suggest that the damage to the obverse makes it a rare error. Such an obvious fake is probably made of brass.

Now look at item 150193443587:

       

This is supposedly a 1911 sovereign and is even more laughable than the first.example from this seller, old_xtreme. He has already tricked one buyer into believing that a "sovereign" he was offering was genuine.

I told this seller about his fakes and he failed to act. I and others have reported him to eBay and so far without action but I do have a phone number for them and will call them.

When I listed some coins for sale, he threatened to spoil my sales and therefore, if you have found my reviews interesting and useful and discover him up to his old tricks, please report him to eBay, to protect others. History shows that when enough people complain, eventually eBay may be shamed into acting. I have phoned them to put them in the picture and have forwarded his illiterate emails to them. At the time of writing they are looking into the matter. They took their time, of course and the listing continued until it expired but I am pleased to report that the discs were not sold on eBay. 

He has now changed his name to egy_pyramid so be on the lookout for him.

You should also look out for gold.direct, an Australian seller who has a number of accounts. His trick is to list his coins and to use perfectly acceptable photos but then claim a hyperinflated value for the coin. Looking at his past sales, it appears that this technique gets results because some coins have sold well over their true value. I have mentioned this practice in a previous guide and I assume that this is yet another of his accounts.

I strongly urge you also to read the guides written by eBayer, dannysitems. He talks about two horror stories and in particular about one seller with three accounts but I suspect four, who is engaged in some very questionable and downright crooked practices. I too was cheated by gquadros's deliberate use of incorrect photos which I believe eBay may have jumped on but I was luckier than Danny because my threats got me a refund. Her feedback shows a pattern to her crooked behaviour and even her postal charges are a rip off!

It has been suggested to me that I should write a whole guide just about this crook and it's true that there is enough material to do so. However, at this time I will just list the behaviour I have noted:

1. She lists a Jubilee Head sovereign and shows it as first head type but then sends me the common second head type. After threats and a long delay, she refunds my money but claims she accidentally used the wrong photo.

2. She makes a point of re-using photographs, at least one of which was never taken by her but always claims that the photo is of the actual coin. You will see more of this if you look at her completed listings. I have lost count of the number of times I have reported this to eBay who don't care!

3. She offers bullion coins as proofs.

4. She offered a so-called rare proof 1911 proof quarter sovereign!

5. She charges rip-off postage.

6. Read the negatives that have been left for her ...

The problem with this seller is that she is high graded and does just enough of this to get away with it and keep her power seller status - what a joke. Remember that Power Seller means practically nothing, just that they sell a lot. You need to look at what was said by victims who left negative feedback. At the time of writing this, I am delighted to say that PayPal has frozen her accounts and I hope that my own actions in reporting her have contributed to this. If you have bought coins from her, I urge you to check whether the photo she used matches the coin itself - I can tell from one eBayer's feedback that he did not look too closely.

If you value pleasant dealings as well as honesty, here is the latest email from Quadros which has also been reported to eBay:

"the person under investigation however is u not me, the only way i can see u going away and stop bothering me is if u have a heart attack shortly, which i hope u do"

Finally, on 29 December 2007, Danny got a new year gift from PayPal. They fully upheld his complaint about Quadros and gave him a full refund. As the incident is clearly one of crooked behaviour from this seller and PayPal have accepted that by giving the buyer a full refund, my best advice is to avoid the seller!

Well, when you get found out, change your name and hope that no one notices but unfortunately, she is still at it, recycling photos or sometimes, she is so cynical that she doesn't even get the text right or uses an image of the wrong monarch. She is now calling herself bargains2009 and her latest trick is not to use gallery photos so that potential buyers are less likely to recognise her recycled and multiply-used images. She is now offering refunds to dissatisfied buyers and I hope that anyone who is disgruntled lets me know how they get on when they ask for their refund.

She seems to be all over eBay, like a rash, and you will also find her as footballmania1234. There is the usual smattering of negatives which are certainly worth reading: my personal favourites are the reports of gold that rusted.

In her latest attempt to hide, she has renamed herself coins.sovereigns.exchange. Well, you can run, Gail Quadros, Audrey Alves or Giselle but you can't hide and judging by the fact that your listings include your normal smattering of recycled photos, which you also use as bargains2009 and errors, you are up to your usual tricks.

I am also keeping the audreysbrother account under close scrutiny because it appears that some of the items are in Leicester and some in Brighton and I recognise the handwriting in one of the images of an item for sale.

I would argue that it is unnecessary to have more than two accounts, one for buying and one for selling and that anyone who regularly changes their account name probably does so to escape detection or for some other unscrupulous reason.

Always check the values of coins by looking in Spink. Of course, for many coins the value is too low because Spink would be only too happy to cajole you into parting with your coins at stupid prices - look at the price for the 1862 Roman I and then offer to buy one from Spink at that price - but at least their prices are somewhat indicative.

Another good reason for buying a copy of Spink is to avoid being tricked by descriptions such as that for item 170181824415. It is a common misunderstanding among novice collectors as to whether the obverse and reverse of sovereigns should be oriented in the same direction or inverted with respect to each other - but this is shown clearly in the Spink listings . With the exception of one type of very rare 1839 proof, all were rotated 180 degrees with respect to each other until the 1887 jubilee issue and thereafter. The seller of this particular coin was given this information twice by me - he disputed it the first time and was unpleasant the second - so I have now reported him to eBay for attempting to mislead potential bidders.

2008 has not got off to a good start. Some of you will have seen one of these in an earlier guide:

        

The item number is 280188461818. Many contemporaneous fakes exist of this coin and they are always crude and ridiculous like this one. As usual, I have informed the seller of what she has and have even directed her to item 170181889276, one of the loveliest real examples I have ever seen and worth the money, I reckon. But this seller is still disputing it, questioning my motives - suggesting that I am looking to buy it cheaply - and even accusing me of working for eBay! Well, I don't mind this being sold as a fake but the listing is ambiguous and I have asked eBay to remove it.

In the same week we also have:

       

This one is item 370010478402. The seller is German and does not speak English. This is a very common token/toy/model but the seller is suggesting that it may be a half sovereign andd that it is rare. Again, another report to eBay. These things are common and some say "To Hanover" but they are still junk and are usually made of brass.

Above all, please be careful. You can get a bargain on eBay but just be a bit cynical before you part with ridiculous sums of money and it may save you from  a disaster.

MAJOR SCAM FOILED

On 7 April 2008, johnno42000 was trying to steal your money and after a further 4 days, he had 93 fake listings. For example, item number 230239657628 used photos stolen from The Gold Sovereign by Michael Marsh but this seller told me that the photos were taken by his grandfather's assistant for insurance purposes and also that one of his stamps - photos stolen from a stamp catalogue - looked like it had just been printed. All of his photos came from magazines, books, web sites and other eBay listings and from the story he told about his grandfather's collection, the reason he could not accept PayPal and that with cheques, the buyers had a 5-day cooling off period, it was obvious that this was a scam but still, there were bidders for everything and I called eBay to report this crook for the first time.

By 9 April 2008, and no surprise to me, eBay had done nothing so I reported this to the seller's local police and I also reported eBay to them for failing to report a crime when the crime was notified to them and for aiding and abetting.

By 11 April 2008, I phoned eBay again because nothing had been done other than this fraudster putting up some 3-day listings, timed to end when the others also ended. Furthermore, eBay has not even had the courtesy to reply to my emails. My next ploy was put a message on the coins bulletin board. The message was: Do not bid for any items purportedly being sold by this fraudster. He is using stolen images and has nothing. He has been reported to eBay who have done what they usually do in these cases - nothing - and to his local police, as has eBay for aiding and abetting. eBay has also been reported to Watchdog. Finally, eBay acted - they removed my message for breaching eBay rules. Disgraceful, isn't it?

By the afternoon of 11 April, I had had no reply to my several emails to eBay and of course, eBay seemed intent on allowing the crook to succeed, so I phoned eBay again and spoke to one of the staff who promised to phone me back and never bothered but I did get a phone call from the South Wales police who told me that they were having difficulty getting eBay to tell them this fraudster's details so I suggested a tactic more likely to succeed.

Finally, I phoned eBay again and got an irate member of staff who told me that it was being investigated, that their investigations can take up to 30 days - pity their auctions aren't usually open this long - and then said he had nothing more to say on the matter.

Naturally, eBay allowed all the auctions to go through to completion but I used two dummy accounts to win 20 of the items and on one item there was ferocious bidding against the underbidder, though I succeeded and left scathing feedback each time.

I am happy to be able to report to you that despite eBay but only because of me, the crook was arrested by the CID in Wales and after telling an assortment of stories, finally confessed to his crimes and as of 15 April 2008, he was out on police bail awaiting trial and then sentencing. Finally, at the request of the police, this eBayer's account has been suspended! eBay never rsponded to any of my emails and never bothered to call me back. This major scam would have netted him £35,000 or more if I had not thwarted it and done eBay's job for them.

You need to appreciate that eBay did not stop any of the auctions and that eBay is not a safe place. eBay greed and incompetent staff mean that their so-called security and safety are a joke and you are completely unprotected from scams.

The London Mint Office

I notice that from time to time, eBayers sell coins with certificates and cases from this organisation and I must tell all of you that this organisation is nothing more than a direct marketing organisation and that despite its name, it has no connection with the Royal Mint. Therefore, its certificates have no standing whatsoever within the coin collecting community.

I rather question its techniques when I look in the Sunday Telegraph of 11 May, where it is offering Victorian sovereigns for £119. If you look at the photo it is using, it is of an uncirculated 1901 sovereign and I advise all potential buyers to insist that they receive a coin as advertised and get that assurance in writing. Otherwise, buy them from eBay!

I am sure that if you order something from this organisation, you will get a coin of the date in question but look at their price for the 2005 bullion half sovereign; you would probably get a proof one at this £99 price and a bullion full sovereign would cost you just a little more.

Always carefully check what you are getting for your money and the best way to do so is by looking at realised prices on eBay when it comes to all but the greatest rarities.

The Chinese Scammers are Back

Quite simply, never buy high value items from Chinese sellers with the exception only of the major photographic sellers. If you think that this is harsh, read the story below.

On 12 May 2008, I noticed a scammer, again.8882008. He had the usual faked feedback but with a twist, the feedback was from established accounts. He has managed to hack into eBay accounts and has given himself positive feedback from 21 real and active accounts. You may be wondering how I can be sure that the feedback was faked; well, if you check the feedback, the moron has given it to himself on the day that the so-called sales completed, i.e. before any real buyer would have received his/her goods. It was also the case that 3 US buyers had left feedback in German or French and a further buyer's feedback was actually a seller's feedback.

He offered a number of items for sale that he did not have, including gold coins and my phone calls and emails to eBay led to the usual platitudes and inactivity and they allowed all of his one-day listings to complete, though I did trash some of the sales by "winning" the items and leaving obnoxious feedback. He then won a number of the auctions himself by using other hacked eBay accounts and left himself new positive feedback and I expect him to try it again but I will be waiting for him.

Eventually, I got replies from eBay's so-called Trust and Safety team, telling me that action had been taken but that they could not say what action had been taken. You might have thought that suspension of the account would be warranted but apparently not so in the wonderfully lawless land of eBay where attempted fraud is encouraged and applauded; he was still there to try to cheat you again.

Another eBayer contacted eBay and after his intercession, eBay finally removed this crook.

Once again, I have shown eBay to be completely uninterested in crooked dealings but I can add to that that the many people who respond to phone calls from the more highly rated eBayers have no power or influence and have undoubtedly been put in place as a sop to WatchDog.

Australian Liars

I would also like to take this opportunity to remind bidders that they should not be fooled by spurious recommended retail prices (RRP) that some Australian sellers - possibly just the one but multiple accounts - are using. The main seller who adopts this sharp practice at the moment is gold-direct and what is worrying me is that too many people are paying silly money for his items. For the most part, his coins are very ordinary and are worth little, if anything, more than bullion and the rrp stated for the jewellery on offer is nothing short of ludicrous. I can't help but wonder whether there must be laws in Australia that cover this and if so whether an Australian eBayer may be willing to report this seller. He has also re-invented himself as hela2008 and is also offering huge rip-off postal charges to the UK - you have been warned.

As of 8 September 2008, he is trying to sell a perfectly ordinary sovereign in a ring, item number 370084786961, claiming a recommended retail price of AU $2695. It is worth no more than AU $280, in my opinion and shows the extent of the lies.

The next listed gold sovereign on 8 September 2008 is a perfectly ordinary 1917 bullion coin, item number 280264853684 from a new seller, 5lemone, value no more than AU $240. The seller describes the coin as "Very rare antique ... Rp $3100". I can't decide whether this is a new liar or the same one but on top of this, he is also trying to charge AU $53.50 for postage. This liar has also added a perfectly ordinary 1925 coin which strangely, also has an Rp of $3100, item number 280264852386.

Don't believe these lies and never buy a coin without having first consulted a reputable catalogue. Would you buy a used car without checking its value? Then why buy a so-called valuable coin without doin the same?

Please move on to the latest part, part 5.

Well, I will be telling you more horror stories as I find them and I should be happy to give you my advice - as I have given it others, if you contact me on lapidary99 at hotmail.com.