Barry Glazer, a Baltimore attorney known for his eccentric and blunt commercials, is suing Meta Platforms over bogus collectible coins sold on Facebook Marketplace.

Filing the proposed class-action suit last week in the U.S. District Court for Maryland, the colorful Baltimore lawyer and avid collector accused Meta of fraud, negligence and racketeering violations for failing to prevent counterfeit sales. He’s currently the lawsuit’s sole plaintiff, having recently bought “several” of the fake coins himself, though he’s seeking to expand it to anyone who has bought counterfeit products through Facebook Marketplace ads within the past four years.

“It’s all over the place,” said Glazer, who is being represented by another attorney at his law office, in a Thursday phone interview. He described various elaborate scams online in which sellers from various countries offer high-ticket collectibles for “absurd prices.”

Meta, which didn’t comment on Glazer’s lawsuit itself, said that its policies prohibit counterfeit goods and that it heavily invests in technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence and automation to reduce content that violates intellectual property rights. The tech giant noted that it also has tools that allow users to report scams and help copyright holders report infringement.

The lawsuit says Glazer, 80, was “intrigued by the implausibly low price” on a listing offering Morgan dollars — silver coins minted in the late 1800s — and purchased them. A coin collector, Glazer said he ran some basic tests on the coins, found they were counterfeit and took them to a jeweler friend to confirm.

The attorney then looked into other Facebook Marketplace listings for coins “at prices so absurdly low that they could not reasonably represent authentic items,” according to the lawsuit.

“These fraudulent listings appeared to target financially unsophisticated, less-educated, or otherwise vulnerable consumers, and were so facially deceptive that any reasonable platform with appropriate oversight would have flagged or removed them,” the complaint reads.

Online marketplaces are generally not liable for counterfeit goods sold by third parties on their platforms, though Glazer argues that they can be held liable for failing to take action against counterfeits that are clearly fake.

“This is so obvious it’s absurd,” Glazer said. He noted a range of schemes online, such as empty homes in Baltimore being illegally rented to squatters, and that tech companies “don’t seem to be doing anything about it.”

The attorney said that he hopes his litigation will make online platforms “be a whole lot more careful” about monitoring for scams.

Glazer, a personal injury and medical malpractice attorney based in Federal Hill, has gained attention for his quirks, like his disdain for the British monarchy and purchase of Princess Diana’s bicycle. But the Pimlico native is perhaps best-known for his local TV commercials, anchored by signature catchphrases delivered in his strong Baltimore accent, such as “Don’t urinate on my leg and tell me it’s raining.” He touts in ads that he wants to take on large adversaries — and is not doing it for the profit but “for vengeance.”

Meta has until next month to respond to Glazer’s complaint in court. The social networking giant has faced numerous civil actions, including a multibillion dollar suit over privacy intrusions and another in which Maryland and other states are accusing the company of exploiting young users and harming children’s mental health.

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