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Store clerk tricked with fake coins

By Jamel Major - bio | email | Twitter | Facebook

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - Bill Dismukes has been collecting coins for more than 50 years.

"I started with my father," he said in an interview Tuesday. "We collected coins. We had a wonderful time."

Dismukes says what happened at Mid-South Coin Company on Park Avenue last Friday is no surprise to him.

"Nothing surprises me," he said. "People can do anything."

According to police, a suspect entered the store and presented at least two dozen foreign coins to the clerk inside.  Officials don't know how much the coins are worth; however, the suspect got away with a substantial amount of money.

"Yeah...it's a big problem especially with high price coins," Dismukes said.

Authorities say the man presented the coins to the clerk in exchange for payment. But when the clerk turned his head, the suspect swapped the real coins out with fake ones. The suspect was then paid for the bogus coins.

According to Dismukes, fake coins are very difficult to produce.

"It would not be easy. First, you'd have to get a blank of some type and buy them, or you'd have to manufacture one. Then you'd have to have a way to reproduce the image on it," he said.

Meanwhile, Dismukes has some advice for anyone in the coin business who wants to keep from being swindled.

"Just be careful and look at every coin and examine it and know your coins," he said.

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