Where To Buy Gold and Silver Coins or Bars and Red Flags

Above, coin scam ad from Facebook.

These days, just about every line of business and merchandising has their share of scammers.

A year ago, a couple of friends and I purchased some supposedly silver coins from an ad on Facebook. I thought that the prices of the coins were "too good to be true," but I took a chance and bought a couple.

Sure enough, they were counterfeit. They were not silver as they were magnetic. Silver is not a magnetic metal. I notified Facebook, the police and the Anti-Counterfeiting Educational Foundation (ACEF) along with my credit card company. The credit card company reversed the charge and the police now possess the coins. The scam originated from China.

I now only buy coins and bullion from dealers I trust.

GOBankingRates has an article on "red flags" to look out for when buying gold and silver coins or bars.

They begin it with:

Although coin collecting is intended to be a fun, interesting and potentially lucrative hobby, it’s also a big business — and like any form of trade, there’s always someone out there who’ll try to scam you. A recent report from Transparency Market Research estimated the value of the global coin collection market at $8.7 billion in 2022 and projected that it could surpass $20 billion by 2031.

With all that money at stake, you can be sure that scammers and shady dealers are already figuring out new ways to bilk you out of your money. Thousands of consumers fall victim to rare coin investment schemes every year, according to the Florida Attorney General’s office, and it’s “not uncommon” for individual victims of coin scams to lose more than $100,000 in a single transaction.

Amateur coin collectors are especially vulnerable to scams because they lack the expertise to determine whether the coin being sold or promoted is legitimate. In fact, as the Florida Attorney General’s office noted, few consumers ever profit from investing in rare coins because they “do not know enough information” to make smart investment decisions.

Your chances of being scammed increase when you are dealing in gold and silver coins or bars because those precious metals hold so much potential value — and scam artists know it.

To read more, go here.

Narcissistic Sociopath

Above, Jerry Moore and Armand at the home of Donald F. Glut. 

The following was posted by Jerry Moore, a.k.a. Karlos Borloff (should we call him Dr. Karlos Borloff?) on things people need to be on the lookout for when dating. These actually apply to either sex. I noticed/experienced all of these red flags, particularly the last six.

This is one of the best "quickie" lists I've seen.

You dating a female SOCIOPATH?? hello. 

Narcissistic Sociopath is not gender related, these people just have different names and faces. 

-no real values
-secret lives: hiding money, friends, affairs
-slow to forgive: holds onto resentment
-high blaming behaviour: projects faults onto other’s {even her children}
-constantly seeking admiration
-she breaks her man’s spirits to keep them dependent: she has a vicious way of cutting you down
-undermines your ability to make choices
-she has to be right~she has to win: whatever the situation may be. You will find yourself just ‘giving in’ to keep the peace
-lacks ability to see how she comes across to others: be it verbally, or her actions
-she announces, not discusses ~she tells, not asks
-she does not listen because she does not really care: your opinions and/or complaints are an annoyance.
-she exudes very little empathy and/or sympathy
-You feel miserable with this person as she is draining the life out of you.