Recently, social media has been flooded with advertisements from coin and currency buyers. On Facebook, many reels feature buyers offering high prices for old coins and currency notes. Holders of such coins and notes are being tempted with offers of large sums for items such as Rs 5 notes featuring a tractor, and Rs 1 coins from the Hyderabad or Calcutta mints. Raj Gyani is one such buyer and collector of old currency. However, several people are also posting online asking others to sell their old coins and currency notes, without any registration or proof of their credentials. People who own such coins and notes often respond online that they have them, but the procedure for selling them is not disclosed. This raises concerns about possible fraud and scams, with people potentially paying money to fraudsters instead of receiving the promised value for their old coins and currency. The Government of India appears to be silent on such advertisements, while the RBI has only been alerting the public to online scams and fraudsters. The government should issue a clear notice regarding advertisements offering high cash values for old coins and currency. Many people may fall prey to such offers and lose their hard-earned money instead of receiving the promised value for their collections. It is time for every state to introduce strict rules and regulations governing the exchange of old coins and currency and provide a proper platform for such transactions. There should also be a system to register old currency buyers so that people can easily identify genuine and authorised buyers.
Raju Ramamurthy, Vasco
