Barry Ron Skog former owner of Burnsville Coin Company LLC, Burnsville, Minnesota sentenced to 30 months imprisonment for selling counterfeit coins in Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) holders which are imported from Chinese manufacturers. He represented himself as an employee of the company named “Ron Peterson” and stole more than $57,000 from customers as per the plea documents. The authorities seized more than 275 counterfeit coins from him which are estimated to be sold for $235,000.
Barry Ron Skog advertised his fake coins in Numismatic News and responded as “Ron Peterson” to the potential buyers and often send them the list of available coins – most of them are fake. One of the victims- Robert Webber identified the counterfeit coin he bought from Slog and reported to the Burnsville Police Department and the Minnesota Commerce Fraud Bureau who conducted the investigation and later arrested Skog.
Collectors Universe the parent company of Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) filed a complaint against him and in 2011 the Federal Court prohibited Slog from selling any coin, real or counterfeit, in counterfeit PCGS holders. Slog pleaded guilty on February 21, 2019 and on July 9, 2019, the U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Minnesota sentenced him to 30 months in prison for his numismatic fraud.
As per the authorities, there may be other customers who purchased Skog’s counterfeit coins and currencies. Anyone with additional information can contact the Minnesota Commerce Fraud Bureau at (651) 539-1617.
