Signs luring customers to pop-up auctions with the possibility of getting fancy cars and fine jewelry at bargain prices have been showing up across the U.S., but the goods aren’t always what they seem.
At one auction in Northbrook, Illinois, last summer, CBS News saw a bustling room with what were supposedly Persian rugs stacked against the wall, cases of seemingly expensive jewelry and aisles of purported fine art.
But a look at the auction’s website shows some interesting fine print about what the sellers at these auctions tell prospective buyers about their products.
“While descriptions are believed to be accurate statements…representations” either “printed” or made “orally” are “opinion” only, not “facts,” the site notes.
Rebecca Simmons attended her first auction in October 2021. It was a bad experience.
“I felt like I had been taken advantage of,” she told CBS News.
She spent $6,000 on an “authenticated” Picasso. Then came the gut punch.
“They were just cheap reproductions,” Simmons said.
An independent appraiser concluded it was worth just $70.
“I was very angry,” she said.
When she discovered her loss, she learned what many others in the same position have: Once the auctions end, the phone number on the signs no longer works.
“They’re doing this because they’re making a lot of money off innocent people, ignorant people, like I was,” Simmons said.
The people behind these auctions are hard to track down, using more than a dozen business names. A check on their backgrounds shows penalties, suspensions and expired licenses in several states. But two names in particular kept coming up: Azam and Anwar Khan, based in Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.
The Khans did not reply to CBS News requests for comment.
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, who represents Illinois’ 9th congressional district, says she hopes to use her influence to get the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the auctions for deceptive practices.
“I certainly think that it needs to be stopped,” Schakowsky said. “These auctioneers are not above the law.”
The FTC did not respond to CBS News’ request for comment.
In the meantime, industry expert and auctioneer Renee Jones said educating the public is key.
“Legitimate auctions just don’t pop up,” Jones said. “There are weeks of marketing, online catalogs. Having a legitimate website. Sharing your license on that website.”
