Introducing FakeBullion.com

[natsb88]

Silver, gold American Eagles most counterfeited bullion coins

A new survey conducted by the Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force (ACTF) indicates the popular U.S. bullion coins are now leaders in a category their manufacturer would rather not be in — the most frequently encountered bullion coin counterfeits.

Read more at FakeBullion.com

[grantwoodisgold]

i've said it before and i'll say it again:

thank you nate for your hard work

this thread always scares me

[MaxGravy]

i've said it before and i'll say it again:

thank you nate for your hard work

this thread always scares me

And every stacker here should consider a membership or donation to fakebullion.

[Mother lode]

Outstanding job. You are an inspiration to us all. Instead of crying about a problem. You are fixing it!
Thank you sir.

[natsb88]

i've said it before and i'll say it again:

thank you nate for your hard work

this thread always scares me

And every stacker here should consider a membership or donation to fakebullion.

So far in 2018 it has cost me ~$1200 to operate FakeBullion.com and I have received ~$600 in donations and affiliate revenue, so you can do the math I don't pay myself out of that either, I get $0/hour for FakeBullion.com work, and there's plenty to do. I scanned 15 fakes this evening, coming soon to the Fake Bullion Database

[RLNcoinbuyer]

I scanned 15 fakes this evening, coming soon to the Fake Bullion Database

Nat, where do you get the fakes from?

[natsb88]

Seller of Counterfeit NGC Holders Brought to Justice

Numismatic Guaranty Corporation® (NGC®) reports that a seller of counterfeit coins in counterfeit NGC holders has pleaded guilty to importing counterfeit coins and bars into the United States. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

Read more at FakeBullion.com

[natsb88]

Four items added to the Fake Bullion Database in the last three days.

[natsb88]

Chinese online firm offering counterfeit holder ‘starter kits’

A Chinese online distributor of counterfeit United States coins is now offering what amount to “starter kits” of counterfeit Professional Coin Grading Service holders with fake grading labels.

PCGS President Don Willis said little can be done legally to combat the counterfeiting until the material hits American soil.

Click for more.

[natsb88]

Special ACTF Exhibit of Counterfeit Coins, Bars at ANA Word’s Fair of Money

The Industry Council for Tangible Assets Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force will exhibit a five-case display of counterfeit coins, precious metals bars, and grading holders during the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money Aug. 14-18 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

Click for more.

[GtiKyle]

Wow.. did not know this site existed. Thank you for all your hard work. I'm going to do some studying to protect myself. Thank you thank you.

[natsb88]

A total of 8 new items were added to the Fake Bullion Database in July. Active donors can access new items right away. Non-donors have to wait until the entries go public after 60 days.

[natsb88]

Here is some newer counterfeit Perth gold. These are severely under weight, simple to identify with a scale. Will be wanting to borrow genuine items to do comparisons if anybody happens to have some.

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preview31.jpg (372.04 KiB) Viewed 802 times

[escher]

Those last ones look laughably fake compared to Perth's real gold buttons. It's embarrassing that Chinese products are synonymous with fakery and dishonesty when it comes to precious metals.

[escher]

So far in 2018 it has cost me ~$1200 to operate FakeBullion.com and I have received ~$600 in donations and affiliate revenue, so you can do the math I don't pay myself out of that either, I get $0/hour for FakeBullion.com work, and there's plenty to do. I scanned 15 fakes this evening, coming soon to the Fake Bullion Database

Out of curiosity Nate, what's the cause of the expense? It can't be servers or the domain - do you have to buy a lot of fakes or pay a lot of postage fees?

[escher]

Chinese online firm offering counterfeit holder ‘starter kits’

A Chinese online distributor of counterfeit United States coins is now offering what amount to “starter kits” of counterfeit Professional Coin Grading Service holders with fake grading labels.

PCGS President Don Willis said little can be done legally to combat the counterfeiting until the material hits American soil.

Click for more.

This is a national embarrassment. Pure dishonesty.

[Purple and Gold]

Chinese online firm offering counterfeit holder ‘starter kits’

A Chinese online distributor of counterfeit United States coins is now offering what amount to “starter kits” of counterfeit Professional Coin Grading Service holders with fake grading labels.

PCGS President Don Willis said little can be done legally to combat the counterfeiting until the material hits American soil.

Click for more.

This is a national embarrassment. Pure dishonesty.

They could potentially bring down the whole market, its scary

[natsb88]

So far in 2018 it has cost me ~$1200 to operate FakeBullion.com and I have received ~$600 in donations and affiliate revenue, so you can do the math I don't pay myself out of that either, I get $0/hour for FakeBullion.com work, and there's plenty to do. I scanned 15 fakes this evening, coming soon to the Fake Bullion Database

Out of curiosity Nate, what's the cause of the expense? It can't be servers or the domain - do you have to buy a lot of fakes or pay a lot of postage fees?

I don't use cheap $5/month shared hosting. I use cloud-based hosting with separate database and image hosting services that are all scalable. I maintain multiple domain names and an SSL certificate.

The site is built on an open-source CMS but uses a lot of paid commercial plug-ins. Most only include updates for a set period of time, then I have to renew the subscription to continue to receive plug-in updates as the main CMS package is updated.

I pay an annual fee for a registered agent for the business entity and a monthly E&O insurance premium. This feels like throwing money down a hole but is necessary these days.

The above account for the bulk of expenses.

[escher]

So far in 2018 it has cost me ~$1200 to operate FakeBullion.com and I have received ~$600 in donations and affiliate revenue, so you can do the math I don't pay myself out of that either, I get $0/hour for FakeBullion.com work, and there's plenty to do. I scanned 15 fakes this evening, coming soon to the Fake Bullion Database

Out of curiosity Nate, what's the cause of the expense? It can't be servers or the domain - do you have to buy a lot of fakes or pay a lot of postage fees?

I don't use cheap $5/month shared hosting. I use cloud-based hosting with separate database and image hosting services that are all scalable. I maintain multiple domain names and an SSL certificate.

The site is built on an open-source CMS but uses a lot of paid commercial plug-ins. Most only include updates for a set period of time, then I have to renew the subscription to continue to receive plug-in updates as the main CMS package is updated.

I pay an annual fee for a registered agent for the business entity and a monthly E&O insurance premium. This feels like throwing money down a hole but is necessary these days.

The above account for the bulk of expenses.

Understood regarding CMS & licensing, less so regarding SSL & hosting. I do this professionally, and it still sounds like your costs are double what they could be. PM me if you want to discuss.

[natsb88]

Understood regarding CMS & licensing, less so regarding SSL & hosting. I do this professionally, and it still sounds like your costs are double what they could be.

How do you know my costs are double what they could be, when you don't even know what my costs are, or my usage? The hosting costs are very reasonable for what I'm doing. Compliance and insurance costs more than hosting. Now if you could cut those in half, you'd have my attention

PM me if you want to discuss.

This whole conversation could have been discussed in PMs instead of junking up this thread