Possible Numista scam?

Hello,

I recently created this account for managing my sales, because I am trying to resell some of my coins.

First time I joined Numista on my main account back in 2023, I got a message from a random guy, in the first 24 hours after joining. I was new to collecting, at least on Numista, so I messaged him back. He asked for coins from my country. I offered a handful, and he offered 2 coins back. Looking back, those coins are actually worth a lot so I do not think anyone would be exchanging those. He took the conversation out of Numista, and messaged me through e-mail. We almost got to trading but I just ghosted him losing interest in the coins, not knowing if they are fake or not. He offered to record himself sending it through mail because I showed fear that he might scam me. That was the end of the story, until I opened this account, receiving a message from a similar profile. It described the person as a student liking geography, with a Euro coin profile picture. Looking back, the account that messaged me was exactly the same, same background, profile picture, and message format. I do not see anyone discussing this, does anyone have a similar experience or a confirmation that this is indeed a scam?

Best regards

Some advice:

It's up to you, to take caution. I belive to have read that all trade and swapping on the site is private issues, between private people. You can flag people who don't deliver, but you can also do stuff like:

Look at their seniority

Have they swapped before?

What's their rating?

Ask them to sent picture proof of the items in question.

It's up to you if you trust the person enough to accept the offer.

Trust your gut and maybe start with getting some swaps first, with people who already have some swaps and good rating. Trust generates trust.

And as the Pawn Stars say: "If it's too good to be true, it useally is"

See here:

https://en.numista.com/help/how-can-i-swap-coins-banknotes-and-exonumia-on-numista-4.html

A secondary account, as well as selling are against TOS by the way.

I am not trying to sell through Numista, I am just trying to manage my collection that I separated for selling purposes. I do not advertise my shop aswell, so I think that is abiding by the TOS.

It is strange how the same account found your second profile that fast. Maybe because he/she is scanning some specific countries, and there are not many new users from Montenegro.

But again, look at the swap ratings, they will tell you a lot. If the offers are too good to be true, it will tell you a lot as well. Try not to swap very expensive coins at first, gain some experience with more common coins. If you are sure that the account is from a scammer, report it.

Overall, there are many trustworthy people here (actually most of them). It is quite easy to spot scammers, and there are not many of those accounts.

Hello,

This seems suspicious. Could you please send me the names via private message so that I can investigate and take action if needed?

Xavier

Hello,

This seems suspicious. Could you please send me the names via private message so that I can investigate and take action if needed?

Sent it. Hope you can solve this and make Numista better!

iiruig

It is strange how the same account found your second profile that fast. Maybe because he/she is scanning some specific countries, and there are not many new users from Montenegro.

 

But again, look at the swap ratings, they will tell you a lot. If the offers are too good to be true, it will tell you a lot as well. Try not to swap very expensive coins at first, gain some experience with more common coins. If you are sure that the account is from a scammer, report it.

 

Overall, there are many trustworthy people here (actually most of them). It is quite easy to spot scammers, and there are not many of those accounts.

Got the same suggestion by many users on Reddit. These accounts have 0 swap ratings and 0 swaps on the road. They might have scammed some people, but they cannot leave a negative review since they swapped outside of Numista.

I also received a similar message within a day of joining, recently. It looked suspicious because they said “I do not have any coins/banknotes from your country.” and I am from the USA. I blocked them. 

iiruig

It is strange how the same account found your second profile that fast. Maybe because he/she is scanning some specific countries, and there are not many new users from Montenegro.

 

But again, look at the swap ratings, they will tell you a lot. If the offers are too good to be true, it will tell you a lot as well. Try not to swap very expensive coins at first, gain some experience with more common coins. If you are sure that the account is from a scammer, report it.

 

Overall, there are many trustworthy people here (actually most of them). It is quite easy to spot scammers, and there are not many of those accounts.

Got the same suggestion by many users on Reddit. These accounts have 0 swap ratings and 0 swaps on the road. They might have scammed some people, but they cannot leave a negative review since they swapped outside of Numista.

When I joined years ago - I got begging emails from Sri Lanka, Ukraine and Ghana - all said they had my details from Numista and the next day got 5 from India, all different names - yet they had the same script “I saw a shiny coin of …New Zealand.. and loved it so much, its shine and design reached out to me, it created happyness - please send me a beautiful coins from your country and I will send you valuable 2 paisa coin” etc.

Once I hid my email address it stopped.

Not coins, but I got one from a guy called Harish Kumararangdan in Bangladesh, offering to sell me pagodas and Scinde Dawks (Early Indian stamp that is rare) for $10 each plus $1000 postage and handling!