Pinellas County authorities have arrested a coin dealer and charged him with defrauding customers.
- Pinellas coins and collectibles dealer charged with defrauding customers
- Seth Lutz charged with 37 counts of fraud
- Pinellas Sheriff's Office asking anyone who may have been a victim to call (727) 582-6200
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, Seth Lutz has been arrested and charged with 37 counts of grand theft and aggravated white collar crime.
Starting in 2015, Pinellas deputies received complaints of failed business transactions from customers of Paradise Coins and Collectibles, located at 8974 Seminole Boulevard, in Seminole.
An investigation was began and detectives say Lutz, 55, a coin dealer working at Paradise Coins was accepting money from customers for gold and silver bullion coins. After customers pre-payed for the coins, Lutz sent partial shipments of merchandise to some victims while other victims received nothing in return.
Detectives say many of the victims lived out-of-state and were responding to Craigslist ads for coin sales. Other victims were previous customers or known to Lutz.
Authorities said Lutz netted $220,000 from 31 customers
Lutz was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail with no bond. Lutz will be extradited to Pinellas County for the criminal charges.
If anyone has any information on this case or has become a victim they are asked to contact Detective Quentin Collamore at the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office at (727) 582-6200.