Panels attracting pop-up customers with the possibility of obtaining luxury cars and fine jewelry at prices of good deals have presented themselves in the United States, but the goods are not always what they seem .
During an auction in Northbrook, Illinois, last summer, CBS News saw a lively room with what was supposed to be Persian carpets stacked against the wall, apparently expensive jewelry boxes and alleys of alleged d alleged ‘art.
But an overview of the auction website shows interesting small characters on what sellers of these auctions speak to potential buyers of their products.
“Although descriptions are considered exact declarations … representations”, either “printed” or “orally” are “an opinion”, not “facts”, notes the site.
Rebecca Simmons attended her first auction in October 2021. It was a bad experience.
“I felt like I was taking advantage of,” she told CBS News.
She spent $ 6,000 on a “authenticated” Picasso. Then came the punch.
“They were just cheap reproductions,” said Simmons.
An independent assessor concluded that it was only worth $ 70.
“I was very angry,” she said.
When she discovered her loss, she learned what many other people in the same position have: Once the auctions end, the phone number on the panels no longer works.
“They do this because they make a lot of money on innocent, ignorant people, as I was,” said Simmons.
People behind these auctions are difficult to find, using more than a dozen business names. Verification of their background shows penalties, suspensions and licenses expired in several states. But two names in particular did not stop going up: Azam and Anwar Khan, based in Virginia, just outside Washington, DC
The Khans did not respond to requests for comments from CBS News.
MP Jan Schakowsky, who represents the 9th district of the Illinois Congress, says that she hopes to use her influence to bring the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the auctions for misleading practices.
“I certainly think it must be stopped,” said Schakowsky. “These auctioneers are not above the law.”
The FTC did not respond to the request for comments from CBS News.
Meanwhile, industry expert and commissioner-commissioner, Renee Jones, said that public education is essential.
“The legitimate auctions simply do not appear,” said Jones. “There are weeks of marketing, online catalogs. Have a legitimate website. Sharing your license on this website.
