KaleB

Hi All,
I thought it would be useful for to add a thread on gold / precious metal scams.  
There have been a few questions posted over the last year that indicate that some new forum members might be being scammed or are thinking about taking part in a "venture" that is is a scam....or worse being used to launder money.  This post can be used as a 'lookup' for new members and also for forum members to flag any scams that they have seen.
Forum members, please do flag up scams or any other advice that would be helpful to people.
Best
Dicker
 
The "Hook"
A gold scam is the same as any other scam - someone is trying to entice you into parting with your money for a product that does not exist and you will never receive.The 'hook' to catch your interest is often the prospect of making significant money by buying gold at a discount.  Margins on PM's are tight and you will find that even miners in remote regions of third world countries know the price of gold!
 
Types of Scams
Financing the importation of gold - Where there is a spurious source i.e. Gold looted from from Saddam, Gadaffi, ISIS, a corrupt mine manager etc  Financing the purchase and sale of gold in another country  - You are invited to fund the purchase and sale of gold using a bogus tax scheme - you are supposed to get the profits when the deal is completed Buying gold dust - "left over" from a mine crusher, smelting plant etc Buying from an fraudulent online dealer - Who has just setup shop and is selling gold at a deep discount Buying from a corrupt politician / government employee - Who just happens to have access to a load of gold Tax avoidance - Funding the purchase and sale of PM's across different tax jurisdictions with you taking a cut of the profits My client wants to buy a lot of gold - Or a bullion dealer, or a refinery.  This is essentially where a victim has been "won over" by a scammer and is then being used to scam others.  We had an example on this forum a while ago where a member was enquiring about buying vast quantities of gold (central bank quantities) or a large refinery...  I think in the end the forum member left, still thinking that we were wrong and she was had a client who wanted that quantity of gold..... Money laundering - You are used to move money around using your bank account (private or company), on the premise you are dealing gold, whereas you are moving money that comes from the proceeds of crime (mostly drugs)  
No one would fall for that right?
Sadly people do, and more frequently than people think - especially senior citizens.  Many scams are extremely elaborate, well planned and well financed, with months or years in the making.
Sending a sample as a 'convincer' - To convince a victim that they are genuine, it is not unknown (but not common) for a scammer to send a sample of gold to a victim for testing.  "Keep the 1/10th ounce sample, we have lots more......" More common is a video or documentary evidence of gold being tested with a piece of paper with your name on.  The gold may be real or may be totally fake, but you won't know Most frequently, stock photos of gold seem to be used as part of scam - using Google Image Search or Tineye is good for searching for the picture to see if it has been used elsewhere Pushy People - Frequently scammers are pushy, with a time frame and deadline put in place to pressurise you to handover cash Scammers are not necessarily pushy, and are willing to play the long game - for example selling a victim 2oz gold at 30% under spot, then waiting for the victim to say - lets do it again with 30oz's Documentation and Websites - Are sometimes surprisingly well put together, and enough to fool a non-expert Wire Transfer - Having a BIC Code and asking for payment by SWIFT MT103 dent mean the recipient is genuine  
Spotting Scams
Stranger danger - The majority of fraud against an individual is carried out by someone not known to them (but there are of course exceptions) Too good to be true - buying PM's significantly under spot doesn't happen - the market is too 'tight' with margins and pricing to match.  (Check the Forum Sale section - you are lucky if you can buy gold for Spot!) Dubious legality - Some scams purport to be close to the law, or in breach or it in order to make money, or someone says they have found a 'loophole'.  Example smuggling gold to avoid tax, claiming tax rebates on gold in another country Urban Legends - Were you hear of gold discovered and belonging to Gadaffi, Hitler, Saddam, that was left in a bank or looted only to be found by the scammer Government Involvement - The person you are dealing with purports to be a government minister, judge, central bank officer - they will not be, even in very non-democratic countries Payment by Western Union, Moneygram - these are immediate red flags.  Both of these companies have implemented checks for 419 scams (sending cash to West Africa and elsewhere) but it remains essentially an anonymous way to receive funds  Cash - To date, all of the scams that I have seen have involved the victim sending cash (physical or by wire) rather than precious metals, but this may not always be the case Google is your friend - Google the name of the company and the person you are dealing with - it doesn't take long to find that (or example) Judge Thomas Mensa of Ghana is in fact deceased, and not in possession of $USD20 million of gold he wants to sell to you at a discount (Mail I received last week...) Your personal information - Scammers often want your personal details ASAP The location of the scammer - From what I have seen (and I appreciate this is anecdotal) a large proportion of the gold scams originate from West Africa, and particularly from countries where 419 Fraud is common  
The following is a good watch and explains why people get caught out and then cannot stop funding a gold scam.