The Currency Bazaar
Old coin fraud in India

Nobody pays you lakhs for a ₹2 coin

If someone has offered you a huge price for an old coin or note and then asked you to pay a fee first, you are being robbed. This page explains exactly how it works.

One rule that stops every version of this fraud
A real buyer never asks the seller for money. Not registration, not GST, not TDS, not RBI clearance, not a refundable deposit. Money moves one way only — from the buyer to you. The moment you are asked to pay anything, it is a scam, no matter how official it sounds.

How the fee ladder works

It never starts with a big demand. It starts small enough to feel reasonable, and each payment is presented as the last one standing between you and the money you have already been promised.

  1. 1
    The hook

    A video, ad, or message tells you a common coin — a ₹1, ₹2, ₹5 coin, or a ₹10 note — is worth lakhs. A “buyer” then contacts you and agrees to a price far above anything real.

  2. 2
    Registration fee

    A small first payment to “register you as a verified seller” or to “open your file”. It is deliberately small, because the point is only to get you to pay once.

  3. 3
    Processing or courier charge

    A second, larger fee to “process the transfer” or insure the parcel. By now you have already paid once, so this one feels like protecting that investment.

  4. 4
    GST or TDS

    A tax-sounding demand, often with a fake challan or receipt. No genuine buyer ever collects tax from a seller before paying them.

  5. 5
    RBI clearance or NOC

    The final and largest demand, using the Reserve Bank of India’s name to sound unarguable. The payment you were promised never arrives, and the number stops answering.

The amounts vary, but the ladder does not. Once you pay the first one, the next reason always arrives.

One real case, itemised

A man in Mangaluru was told his 15 old coins would fetch ₹49,00,000. Over five weeks, from 25 November to 30 December 2024, he was asked for these — each one presented as the last step before the money arrived.

What they called itWhat he paid
RBI registration₹750
GST proceeding data fee₹17,500
Insurance fee₹94,500
TDS fee₹49,499
GPS fee₹71,500
ITR fee₹39,990
“RBI notice pending” fee₹3,50,000
Final demand, “as per RBI guidelines”₹12,55,000
Total reported loss (the report itemises only part of it; more instalments followed) ₹58,26,399

Reported by ETV Bharat, 9 January 2025. Case registered at Kavoor police station, Mangaluru.

It is clarified that Reserve Bank of India does not deal in such matters and never seeks charges/ commissions of any sort. Reserve Bank of India has also not authorised any institution/ firm/ person etc. to collect charges/ commission on its behalf in such transactions.

— Reserve Bank of India, Press Release 2021-2022/634, 4 August 2021

Read that again: the Reserve Bank does not buy or sell old coins and notes, never charges anything for it, and has authorised nobody to charge you on its behalf. Every “RBI registration”, “RBI clearance” and “RBI notice” demand is therefore a lie by definition — there is nothing to register with and nobody to clear.

The six things we check on every single message

These are not general tips. They are the exact rules our scanner runs against every message sent on this site, and they are the six moves this fraud is built from.

Stop here You are asked for money

Any fee, charge, deposit, GST, TDS, customs or “clearance” demanded from you. This is the single clearest sign, and it is the one the whole fraud depends on.

Stop here A buyer sends you their payment details

A UPI id, account number or IFSC arriving from a buyer makes no sense — a buyer needs yours, not the other way round. It is only ever sent so that you can pay them.

Be careful A price far beyond reality

Lakhs or crores offered for an ordinary coin. The inflated number is the bait, and it is set high enough that the fees feel small next to it.

Be careful A government or bank name is used

RBI, “government approved”, a museum, an auction house, income tax, customs. Borrowed authority is used to make the next demand for money feel official.

Worth noticing You are pushed to hurry

“Only today”, “offer closing”, “two hours left”. Hurry exists to stop you checking anything or asking anyone.

Worth noticing You are pulled off the platform

A phone number, WhatsApp or Telegram, often spelled out in words to dodge filters. Off the site, nothing is scanned and nothing is recorded.

If a message to you trips any of these, you see a warning on the message itself — before you reply.

Why this works — and how it stops working

This fraud does not run on greed. It runs on the fact that almost nobody knows what an old coin is actually worth. If you have no number in your head, someone else’s number becomes the truth.

So here are real ones. These are ranges from our own published value catalogue for the very coins these ads name most often. Once you know your coin sits here, an offer of ₹3,00,000 stops being exciting and starts being the warning it always was.

Coin or note Real range
One Naya Paisa ₹25 – ₹220
One Anna — George VI ₹60 – ₹400
One Pice — Republic India ₹90 – ₹700
Five Rupees — RBI 75 Years ₹90 – ₹550
Half Anna — Republic India ₹120 – ₹900
Two Rupees — Small Family ₹120 – ₹800
Twenty Rupees Note — Star series ₹120 – ₹900
Jawaharlal Nehru Fifty Paise ₹180 – ₹950

From our published catalogue of 35 entries. Every listing on this site shows its range in public, next to the asking price.

See what things like yours actually sold for

Real listings, real prices paid, with dates. Not estimates and not promises.

See sold prices

On The Currency Bazaar a buyer can never ask you for money — every message is scanned, and your phone number is never shown.

Read next

If you have already paid

Act quickly. Money reported in the first hours is far more likely to be frozen before it moves on.