Facebook ad promises lakhs for your old coins — then charges fees until you run out of money
Ads on Facebook or YouTube promise to buy your old coins or antique notes for lakhs. After you respond, scammers charge sequential fees — 'verification', 'GST', 'RBI clearance'. The promised payment never arrives.
Also known as: purane sikke scam, old coin sale fraud, antique coin buyer scam, rare coin seller fraud, old currency notes buyer scam
Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes
Call 1930 now- 1 Call 1930 — the national cyber-crime helpline — right now. The sooner you report, the better the chance of freezing the money before it moves.
- 2 Call your bank to freeze the account and block the card immediately. Use the number printed on your card, never a number from the message or caller.
- 3 File a report at cybercrime.gov.in and keep every message, screenshot, and transaction ID.
What to do right now
- 1 Stop all payments immediately — no matter how much you have already paid, the promised money will never arrive
- 2 Do not share Aadhaar, PAN, or bank account details with any unverified buyer
- 3 Verify any supposed 'RBI' involvement by calling the RBI Consumer Helpline at 14448 — the RBI will confirm it plays no role in coin or currency-note sales
- 4 Report the Facebook or YouTube ad using the platform's in-app report button to protect other users
- 5 Report at https://cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930 (national cyber helpline).
Red flags
- ⚠ RBI does not buy or sell coins or notes from the public and never charges any fee for such transactions
- ⚠ No genuine antique buyer charges 'GST', 'RBI clearance', 'customs fee', 'insurance', or 'registration' before paying you
- ⚠ The offered price is wildly inflated — ₹10 lakh for a common ₹2 coin — to make each small fee seem worth paying
- ⚠ Fees come in sequence over days or weeks: first verification, then registration, then GST, then customs clearance, then insurance
- ⚠ Scammer asks for Aadhaar, PAN, or bank details to 'verify ownership' or 'process the transfer'
Sources
- BOOM — Old Coins Emptying Pockets: How Coin Sale Scams Trap You
- Country and Politics — Senior Citizen Duped of ₹6.39 Lakh in Antique Coin Scam via Facebook
- The420.in — 'Rare' Coin Scam: How Indians Are Losing Lakhs to Online Fraudsters
- Amar Ujala — पुराने सिक्कों के नाम पर ₹12 लाख की ठगी, मेवात से मास्टरमाइंड गिरफ्तार
- CyberCure — Coin Sale Scam Alert: Don't Let Your 'Rare' Coins Cost You Lakhs
- Techlusive — Coin Sale Scam in India Explained