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Dishonest coin dealer operating from St Petersburg, Russia: (updated 10th September, see bottom)
This is a warning to all people involved with buying coins, or any thing else this shady character may try to sell! I hope to prevent other people being taken for the ride I was.
Last week I was
contacted by a Russian man claiming he was a coin dealer and had coins for
sale, among the coins listed were these: (Click here
for full list)
Rome 14-37 AD, Tiberius, AV gold aureus, Pontif Maxim,
ICG certified VF-25
my price is 820.00 United States Dollars
Rome 402-450 AD, Theodosius II, AV gold solidus, XF 180.00 Euros
Byzantine 582-602 AD, Maurice Tiberius, Solidus, small
flan 11mm, 4.4g 200.00 Euros
Byzantine 1042-1055 AD, Constantine IX, Stamenon Nomisma, Obv: hrist
on throne
245.00 Euros
He also
stated:
I can provide a large quantities of unselected world notes,
basicaly
East Europe, Asia, Africa. Packed in packages with 1700 notes in each.
140 containers availible for the price of 150.00 USD per package.
The notes are, as we can see rather good quality, no time
to inspect them all,
If you can be interested to purchase all 140 containers, we will be
able to offer a special price.
I will be glad to know your offers for USA coins, I was interested
and also if
you let us know your interest.
Please contact me with your offers of US Half Dollars 1805-1807
or for the pictures of my items.
Yours,
Dmitrii
Although the contact was unsolicited, this is not unusual because my email addresses are freely available on this website. I replied to that email to thank him for his offer and tell him that US coins aren't really my thing and that I do not have what he is looking for with regards to US half dollars.
Because he mentioned a few ancient coins in his list I said I would be interested in finding a source of un-cleaned Roman coins, to clean and identify myself and asked if he knew anyone.
He replied to tell me he had recently acquired 9.5Kg of un-cleaned Roman coins and was selling them for US$120.00 per Kg. He said If I was interested he would send me 1Kg to see what I think, with the option of purchasing more if I approved. I agreed to this but was concerned about how I could make payment to Russia and how did I know that he was genuine.
We exchanged a few emails and he always replied within hours of my emails and was very re-assuring, saying he understood my doubts about trading with Russia. His standard of English was good and he remained very courteous. He also said that he is just starting to trade with the West and mentioned that I could act as a reference for him in the future.
He explained that I could pay via Western Union and upon receipt of the money he would send the coins via Fed EX and that it would take maximum 4 days to reach me. He said he would email me the number so I can track the package online:
From: Dmitrii
?????? <dmitrii.??????@?k.ru> Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 18:19:24 +0400
To: Chris Perkins <chrisperkins@freeuk.com> Priority: normal
Subject: Re: Bulk Roman coins
Cc: none
Dear Chris,
Thank you for your letter and for your order.
I will personally pack the 1 kg of uncleaned coins and will prepare
them to be mailed by Federal Express insured.
I will also keep the rest of the coins, untill you get the first order
and check (3-4 days).
Escrow service does not work safely in Russia.
The parcel with all coins will be sent to you in 2-3 hours after
the payment of 120.00 USD is received by my assistant in Russia. The parcel will be
mailed by Fed Ex insured directly to your address (please provide your full address, no post box, please, as Fed Ex does not deliver to
post boxes). You will be provided by a special Fed Ex tracking number,
so you will be able to control the delivery process by Internet at
www.fedex.com.
After the coins are arrived (it is usually takes 3-4 days for the
parcel to reach any place in the World), we will give (according
to our rules) 34 days for your inspection of our coins.
Refund is usually made in 1 day, after the request for refund is
received by e-mail.
The prepayment for the sum of 120.00 USD must be made to the name
of my assistant, who is responsible for payment collecting:
Artem ????????
????? ????, ??
St. Peterburg, Russia
This is enough information for Western Union transfer, when the
payment is made, please inform us about the details of transfer
(senders name, 10-digital confirmation number of Western Union
transfer). In 2-3 hours after the payment is received, the transfer will be sent.
We have just came to the European and USA coins market and very interested to establish a good relations with dealers and ask them to be a
references in our future work and deals.
The transfer can be made in Euro, the Western Union employers will
inform you how much Euro is 120 USD and will transfer them.
Look forward for your answer,
Yours,
Dmitrii
Up to that point I had no real reason to be suspicious and agreed to be a reference to him in the deal went smoothly. I was still a bit sceptical about sending the money to him via Western Union but went into my local Western Union office on Friday 30th May 2003, in the Main Post Office in Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany. The lady there said I could send the money to his contact but that if I didn't tell him the reference number that he would be unable to collect my money. So I initiated a transfer of EUR120.00 (about US$120.00) to his contact in St Petersburg.
When I got home I emailed Dmitrii a scan of the Western Union receipt, showing the name and address he told me to make it payable to, and the amount (EUR120.00) but I covered the reference number and name of sender with a large white block (It wasn't in my name either, for extra security I put it in my girlfriends name). He replied promptly saying he would attempt to battle the St Petersburg traffic that evening and get to the Fed EX office. It was the day all the World leaders were in St Petersburg with Russian President Putin and Dmitrii emailed when he got back to say he was too late and that he would be able to send the item tomorrow morning (Saturday 31st May 2003). The next day I got an email saying the package had been sent and that he would email me in a few hours to tell me the Fed Ex reference number.
Great, I thought, looking forward to my 1kg of freshly dug up Roman coins. That day I received no Fed Ex reference number from Dmitrii, so I emailed that evening. The next day, no number, I emailed again, no reply. In fact I have emailed the previously very helpful Dmitrii everyday since he claimed he sent the coins. I thought I'd give him the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he had to go away, or had some kind of emergency, or his computer is broken, these things happen. I waited patiently for my 1kg of Roman coins.
Today is the 11th June, 11 days after the package was 'sent' and guess what...No coins yet and not a single email from Dmitrii! I am beginning to think that had I given him the reference number of the Western Union payment that he would have taken my money and that I would have nothing to show for it. I will go to the Western Union office to get my money back as soon as I can.
UPDATE 17th June I went to the Western Union office today (17th June 2003) only to find that despite the fact I revealed no transfer number to Dmitrii, or the senders name, somehow his contact was able to collect my EUR120.00 from a Western Union office in St Petersburg!! As you can imagine I was not impressed by this, considering I only went through with it after the woman behind the counter reassured me he would be unable to get the money without the number! So with the Western Union fee I realised I had lost EUR146.00 which is more than £100.00. I take Western Union personally responsible for allowing the shady Russians to collect the money and have complained to the US head office.
UPDATE 10th September Western Union customer services are absolutely Rubbish. After 3 months all I have heard from them is numerous messages saying that someone will be in touch with me about this, but no one ever has. I responded to one of the messages asking if the person could contact me over the telephone and I asked if the person would be able to speak English, just to make sure (As I'm in Germany). The highly intelligent Western Union employee replied ensuring me that all the investigators were bi-lingual...Great I though, as long as the bi languages happen to be German and English!
Someone else also emailed me after seeing this web page and it looking familiar. He was conned out of US$175.00 in August of 2002. Much the same story, they promised it would be sent FedEx etc, and that Western Union was the only way to pay. He said that a woman by the name of Anna was also involved with the deal. He swears never to have anything to do with anyone from Russia ever again, which is a shame because there must be some honest people in Russia (I'd like to hear from you!) but I do understand his new resolution.
So what have I learnt? Well I have confirmed my belief that trading with Russia is well dodgy! And have learnt that Western Union (Clickety clack) are rubbish, certainly when it comes to customer support but also in training their German representatives!
Judging by some of the coin prices on the list he originally sent, he could potentially take a lot of money from British/American and other Western Coin dealers and never send anything, so as a responsible coin dealer I am exposing him on this site, so that hopefully one of the 7,500 monthly visitors can read it and think twice about trading with anyone called Dmitrii from St Petersburg without proper references being provided.
I have protected the full identity of Dmitrii and his associates by replacing certain details with question marks (although at one stage I was so annoyed I almost displayed everything!!), as I would not like to be responsible for any unwanted emails or contact he may receive. Should you think you have been contacted by Dmitrii or his associates please let me know the address and name details given and I will check them with the full contact details that I have. Please do not think that everybody from St Petersburg in Russia is dishonest, because I'm sure that is not the case (although I'm beginning to wonder!). The important lesson from this story, and my future policy is:
'When contacted via email or in another unsolicitored way, no matter what, always get the goods first before paying anyone any money unless known to you, and especially anyone from Russia!'. Don't use Western Union in Germany unless you can afford to loose the money (It's like gambling!).
If you think you have been contacted by Dmitrii in the past, please let me know as I intend to submit these details to the British Numismatic trade association and the equivalent European and American numismatic bodies.
Chris Perkins, email
www.predecimal.com 11th June 2003.
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