Silver Rush and the Rush on Fakes

The recent panic buying of silver bullion earlier this year has sparked a significant increase in fraudulent or misleading online advertising to lure unsuspecting retail buyers to purchase counterfeit United States silver dollars, according to officials of the Anti-Counterfeiting Educational Foundation (www.ACEFonline.org). “The Chinese are blowing up the web selling fake silver dollars. We’ve seen suspicious ads posted on many platforms, including Amazon and Facebook,” cautioned Doug Davis, ACEF AntiCounterfeiting director.

- Joshua McMorrow-Hernande

“During the past couple of weeks, we received an increase in reports of counterfeits due to silver’s volatility and especially the ongoing interest in the Morgan silver dollar market. The Chinese are heavily marketing fake silver dollars via Facebook,” said Davis, a former Texas Police Chief. “Remember, if you don’t know precious metals, you’d better know a reputable seller, such as experts affiliated with the Accredited Precious Metals Dealer program (www.APMDdealers.org),” advised Davis.

Morgan dollars are named after their designer, George T. Morgan, and were struck by the United States Mint from 1878 to 1904 and again in 1921. Popular with collectors and investors, each coin contains about three-fourths of an ounce (0.77345 oz) of silver. “The crush of retail customers has slowed down a bit, but we’ve definitely seen ‘panic buying’ of silver the past couple of weeks. Unfortunately, some unsuspecting buyers are becoming victims of online scams by unscrupulous sellers,” said Richard Weaver, president of the Professional Numismatists Guild (www. PNGdealers.org).

“Supplies of genuine, century-old Morgan silver dollars are extremely tight, but one suspicious seller on Facebook is offering to sell 28 ‘genuine’ Morgan dollars for only $199. If they actually were genuine coins, the price would be closer to $900. Even the certification holders housing their fakes appear to be counterfeits,” explained Weaver.