Getting the U.S. Mint involved with ebay.

smprfi

The counterfeit shoe thread gave me this idea.

Is there a way to get someone from the U.S. Mint involved in the coin hobby.Get them to monitor ebay and apply the strong arm when they come across fake coins.I mean if ebay would buckle to Nike and Microsoft and others,I'm sure they would buckle to the U.S. government.

Do you think this is possible?Would they help?

smprfi

What no thoughts or comments?

kranky

Since the Mint wouldn't make any money by nailing fakes on ebay, I doubt they would have any interest. I believe the Secret Service is responsible for policing counterfeit US coins and currency, but even so I don't think they would find it to be worth the effort to hunt them down.

But what would be nice is if, like the FTC, you could report violations for them to investigate.

coppercoins

Kranky is correct, the U.S. Mint is the authority for making US coins, not for enforcing counterfeit laws. The Secret Service does that, and would probably be interested if they had information leading to the arrest of counterfeiters in the United States. You will find, however, that many of the counterfeits being sold on eBay are coming from foreign nations, usually Asiatic nations, over which the Secret Service holds no jurisdiction.

As for policing eBay and having them remove counterfeit coin auctions and sellers of such countefeit coins, they would first have to be convinced that the coins being sold are in fact counterfeit. In my experience with eBay, they might listen to the first two or three words before shutting you out, so pick those couple of words very carefully. Good luck getting them to listen to anything, and even more luck getting them to respond.

Regarding resale of counterfeits from within the United States, I believe that is technically illegal if the person making the sale knows the coin is counterfeit and the sale is being made in an effort to deceive the purchaser, but I believe that's more a case of mail fraud than counterfeiting. The Secret Service would only be interested if the coins in question were passed as legal tender, not sold as a collectible.

agfox

And then it becomes mail fraud..

See this nasty loop?

vam44

You mean the guys who authenticated the 59 wheatie?