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HomeNewsCoinWeek News Wire for April 13, 2018: Heists, Fakes, and Fraud

CoinWeek News Wire for April 13, 2018: Heists, Fakes, and Fraud

CoinWeek News Wire

Coinweek News Wire for April 13, 2018 ….

In Memoriam

1.) Walter Ray Lockwood, 1939-2018

[We received the following sad news last week from Carl Wolf of the Chicago Coin Club. —CoinWeek]

Walter Ray Lockwood (member 1256) passed away early morning Tuesday, April 3. He was 79 years of age. Ray was a long time member of the Central States Numismatic Society (CSNS), served many offices and for many years as a Governor, Education Chair and assisted his wife Fran with the convention exhibits. He was a collector of many numismatic subjects, including polymer banknotes. At the Chicago Coin Club’s November 21, 2015 meeting held in conjunction with the PCDA National Currency and Coin Convention, Ray gave a well-received presentation on this subject. The next day Ray chaired the CSNS Numismatic Educational Symposium titled “Tales of Gold, Greed, Gangsters and Wartime on the Prairie.” He was a constant presence at CSNS conventions for many years and will be dearly missed.

Condolences can be sent to his wife Fran Lockwood ([email protected]).

Funeral arrangements will be made Monday and an online obituary will be posted later Monday or Tuesday. Google search Raymond Lockwood, Marion, Indiana.

Under the Radar

2.) ‘Very rare’ Saxon coins found by detectorist

Two coins found on farmland are “very rare” survivors from a Saxon mint, a treasure inquest has heard.

The coins were found by a metal detectorist in adjacent fields at Southoe in Cambridgeshire. Both were cast from the same die at a mint at Huntingdon for Aethelred the Unready between 997 and 1003 AD.

Only one other coin from this mint has been recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme, the Coroners’ Court in Huntingdon was told

3.) Kazakhstan to Issue New Series of Commemorative Coins

To mark the 20th anniversary of Astana and the 25th anniversary of the national currency, the National Bank of Kazakhstan will issue a new series of commemorative coins

Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News

4.) Hedge Fund Titan George Soros Is Getting Into Cryptocurrencies

Adam Fisher, head of macro investing for Soros Fund Management, received the approval, but he has yet to make any bets on cryptocurrencies, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter

5.) Major blockchain group says Europe should exempt Bitcoin from new data privacy rule

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will take effect on May 25th this year, more than two years after it was first signed into law. Under the new rule, if an EU citizen requests that their personal data be erased from a company’s records, the company will have to obey.

But with blockchain, a complete erasure of any stored personal data might not be possible

6.) Indian central bank looks to block Bitcoin, while creating its own cryptocurrency

India’s central banking authority, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has announced that it will cease doing any sort of business with anyone or any business that deals with cryptocurrencies. In the same breath however, it has made it clear that plans to create its own cryptocurrency continue unabated

News Wire Crime & Punishment

coin_crime_alert7.) NCIC Crime Bulletin

From the Numismatic Crime Information Center (NCIC):

USPS Parcel-Stolen – Bullion

An overnight parcel being sent from Studio City, California to Indiana arrived eight days after being shipped. Upon arrival the package had been damaged and the bullion contents replaced with weights. It is unclear at what point in transit the compromise took place.

List of items stolen: Engelhard 5 oz items with serial numbers 51496 58012 239877 C220622 240063 2 without serial numbers Engelhard 10 oz items with serial numbers P423125, P288824, P025789, P065788, PO96323, C112511 P116211, P427344, P427407, P215620, P211824, 2 JMC 3 oz silver bars 1 Engelhard silver bar serial number 39834, I JM 14.1 oz silver bar 79669, 1 Engelhard 1969, 4 piece Hallmark 100 gram set. In case with booklet. Engelhard 2 oz gold bar Hoffman and Hoffman 5.21silver bar JM 100 gram bars with serial numbers Canada 002078 Canada 001525 JM 100 gram bars with no serial numbers Garantito Silver Jubilee Sweitzerisher Bank J&M.

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Attempted ACH Payments/Credit Cards

The Numismatic Crime Information Center has been notified of an individual who has attempted to make large purchases for coins using ACH payments and Credit Cards.

The individual uses the name Kevin Shreves with an address out of the state of Washington. The customer sent bogus ACH payments but when processed by the bank turns out to be invalid account numbers. He also tried to use three different credit cards and all were declined.

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Missing/Stolen Coins

A package being sent express overnight from Kansas to Virginia with guaranteed delivery next day has been reported missing/stolen. Tracking indicates the package stopped at the Sandston distribution center Richmond, VA.

The package contained double row boxes of collector coins ranging from dollars to cents. The coins were housed in 1x1s, 2x2s, flips and marked with red circled prices and purple cost numbers.

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Fraudulent Credit Card Purchases

A long-time PNG dealer (who wants to remain anonymous) says his company has seen a significant increase in the number of attempted, fraudulent credit card purchases coming from the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area. These attempts are apparently linked to a source or sources in Venezuela and involve stolen credit card numbers.

The attempted purchases were made via the company’s online store and online ordering system. Some attempted fraudulent credit card purchases appeared to be “tests” with the buyer trying to order only $100 of merchandise, but other attempts involved orders for $1,000 of merchandise.

Any dealer who has experienced a recent influx of suspicious orders or purchases with stolen credit cards please contact NCIC.

* * *

Please contact the NCIC’s Doug Davis if you have any questions or information about any of the cases above. You can reach him at (817) 723-7231 or email him at [email protected].

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The Numismatic Crime Information Center is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation. P.O. Box 14080 Arlington, Texas 76094.

Fake Silver Eagle
Genuine Silver Eagles do not look like this. CoinWeek Artist Rendition.

8.) Burnsville Coin Dealer Sold Fakes: Federal Indictment

According to the indictment, Skog owned and operated a business called Burnsville Coin Company. Through his business, he posted advertisements for coins in the publication Numismatic News. When victims responded to the ads, Skog would mail them lists of available coins for purchase, many of which were counterfeit, police said

9.) Minnesota man indicted for precious metals investment fraud

According to the indictment, between November 2010 and June 2017, more than a dozen individuals, mostly seniors, paid Rougier approximately $740,000 based on his promises that he was using their money to buy gold and silver. However, it is alleged that Rougier actually spent most of the victims’ money on shopping trips, entertainment, travel, strip clubs and other personal expenses

10.) Sarasota police believe suspects in jewelry/coin store heist are pros

Sarasota police say the man and woman you see in a surveillance video from around 1:30 a.m. Thursday stole $50,000 to $100,000 in jewelry and rare coins from the Estate Jewelry and Coin Galleria on Main Street.

Police say it’s the work of professionals

11.) Six suspects to be tried in Latvia for making fake U.S. dollar banknotes

Under the guise of a legal business, they made 3.5 million U.S. dollar worth of fake banknotes. Some of the counterfeit money was stored at the printing shop, while the rest was kept at the suspects’ homes and another company’s premises

Gold, Precious Metals & Bullion

12.) Palladium surges 6% on jitters over Russia sanctions

Although the supply pipeline of the metal, more than two-fifths of which is sourced in Russia, has not been directly hit by the sanctions, the market has been rattled by the inclusion of Russian magnate Oleg Deripaska on the sanctions blacklist.

Deripaska’s aluminium giant Rusal owns a 28% stake in Norilsk Nickel, the world’s biggest palladium producer

13.) Sales of US Mint American Eagle gold, silver coins fall in March

Sales of U.S. Mint American Eagle gold coins fell to their slowest March sales ever, according to records dating back to 2007, while silver coin sales for March fell to their lowest in 11 years, government data showed. Sales of American Eagle gold coins totaled 3,500 ounces in March, down 36.3 percent from 5,500 coins in the previous month, according to U.S. Mint data released on March 30

14.) German Central Bank Assures Citizens That Stored Gold Is Real

Germany’s Bundesbank is launching a six-month exhibition this week that is dedicated to gold. The country’s reserves will be showcased in the form of unique gold bars and coins owned by the central bank, board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele said during exhibit’s opening ceremony.

“I can assure you that the gold of the Germans is stored and administered under the highest standards,” Thiele stated. “This will remain so in the future.”

15.) Open Letter to Congressman Alex Mooney on his Bill to Define the Dollar as a Fixed Weight of Gold

Dear Congressman Mooney:

I am writing to you about something of great importance, the path to the gold standard. Thank you for introducing H.R. 5404. I agree with your findings, especially that inflation undermines jobs and retirement. Yet I must say that the dollar cannot now be defined as a weight of gold.

This would be nothing more than a price-fixing scheme

Banknote News

16.) An unusual numismatic passion

With more than 500 error currency notes in his collection, Shyju, a senior public relations professional, and a numismatist for the last 16 years with membership in several numismatic societies and clubs in major Indian cities, says he started his hobby 20 years ago, when he found a Rs 100 note with abated colors on it.

He possesses some of the rarest collection of coins and notes with printing errors including the one rupee note that was printed during the British rule in 1917, a double-decked Rs 1000 note, Gandhi-less notes, notes without flag over the Red Fort, notes even without the Red Fort and overweight notes. Shyju also has a collection of notes brought out after demonetisation, with printing mistakes

Fiji $7 Banknote17.) The year’s most beautiful banknotes

The annual contest for the best banknote of the year, run by the International Bank Note Society (IBNS), has chosen the 2017 winner: Switzerland’s 10-franc note.

This year’s runners-up included the Royal Bank of Scotland’s version of the £10 note, which displays mathematician and astronomer Mary Somerville; Fiji’s $7 note, which shows the country’s smiling Olympic gold-winning rugby team; Norway’s 100-kroner note, with its Viking ship; Djibouti’s 40-franc note, with a whale shark swimming across its front; and Canada’s $10 note, with its regional landscapes….

18.) Venezuela set to launch another currency series

The Central Bank of Venezuela has published the designs of the new currency series which will be launched on June 4, 2018. Eight new banknotes have been designed alongside two new coins; once released they will replace the current series in circulation

19.) Reserve Bank of Australia to sell Melbourne headquarters

The Reserve Bank of Australia is set to offload a prime Collins Street building in Melbourne in a move that will boost government coffers by an estimated $110 million

Medals, Tokens & Exonumia

20.) Cedar Rapids man finds rare saloon token from 1915

“These food buffets were a serious problem in Cedar Rapids as far as people drinking too much, and it led to the creation of Cedar Rapids prohibition against alcoholic drinks,” Stoffer Hunter said, “and this happened before the national prohibition. Cedar Rapids probation started on January 1, 1916 before the rest the United States.”

Museums & Exhibits

21.) Mayborn Museum Will Present Titanic The Artifact Exhibition

One of the more fascinating artifacts Seymour showed me is a $10 bank note. It has slight water damage, but I can still see just about everything on the note in great detail. Seymour says, the paper goods likely remain intact to this day because they were stored in leather bags

Upcoming Auctions & Events

Just for Fun

22.) Carving a Skull on a $1,500 Gold Coin from Start to Finish

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Coinweek is the top independent online media source for rare coin and currency news, with analysis and information contributed by leading experts across the numismatic spectrum.

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