Three numismatic organizations are pushing Facebook to crack down on ads promoting counterfeit coin sales. According to the three groups, Facebook has become the predominant location where fraudsters attempt to sell fake coins through pop-up ads.
Voicing their concerns, the Anti-Counterfeiting Educational Foundation (ACEF), Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC), and the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG) sent a joint letter to Facebook founder, chairman, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on August 19, 2021. They also sent letters to Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Kara Sandberg and then-Chief Revenue Officer David Fischer.
In the letter, the three numismatic groups wrote, “It appears Facebook has become the predominant choice of some fraudsters. Counterfeiters of rare coins and counterfeit precious metals coins and sellers of these bogus, illegal products continue to blatantly obtain advertising on Facebook. The work of the Anti-Counterfeiting Educational Foundation (ACEF) with law enforcement investigators leads us to believe the cost to unsuspecting victims is in the millions of dollars in lost investments. Good-faither buyers erroneously believe that if any advertisement appears on Facebook it must be accurate and true. Facebook’s platform continues to be used to lure gullible buyers of counterfeits of century-old U.S. silver dollars, and fake gold and silver modern American Eagle precious metal bullion coins. Some unscrupulous sellers also offer illegal ‘replicas’ of historic coins that are not marked “COPY” and, therefore, are in blatant violation of the federal 1973 Hobby Protection Act and the 2014 Collectible Coin Protection Act.”
To date, they have not received any response from the Facebook executive team.
“We are disappointed and frustrated that Facebook, for whatever reason, has failed to even acknowledge our important letter while hundreds of pop-up ads selling counterfeits or touting inaccurately or misleadingly described replicas continue to appear on their platform,” PNG Executive Director Bob Brueggeman said. “ACEF, NGC and PNG jointly offered to assist Facebook to detect and help prevent these kinds of fraudulent ads, but there’s been no response.”
“NGC was founded, in part, to combat counterfeit coins in the marketplace. The coin collecting hobby is safer now than ever before, but we unfortunately face a new and serious threat from counterfeiters who are using social media to take advantage of unsuspecting buyers,” NGC chairman Mark Salzberg said. “NGC hopes to have the opportunity to work with Facebook to help banish these unscrupulous sellers from its platform.”
“The Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force has identified Facebook as a major platform utilized by counterfeiters and criminal organizations to sell counterfeit coins and precious metals,” Doug Davis, ACEF Director of Anti-Counterfeiting and a former Texas police chief, said. “It is critical that Facebook executives recognize the criminal abuse of their platform by crooks who are preying on unsuspecting and uneducated victims who have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. But most importantly, the misuse of the Facebook platform undermines the integrity of the U.S. monetary system.”
