Top Gold Buying Scams
Gold is a hot commodity due to its value of it. Before you invest in it, awareness about the top gold buying scams is important. You don’t want to be taken advantage of. You don’t want to spend money thinking you made a wise investment, only to discover what you paid for isn’t worth anything at all!
Always take your time to verify details before you buy gold. It can be valuable, but it has to be a legitimate purchase. Ask questions, look at the information, and bypass any offer that seems too good to be true. Due to the demand for gold, such scams are everywhere. Potential buyers have to beware of them. Report anything that seems to be a scam to the authorities so they can investigate it further.
COMPANY DISAPPEARS
Gold buying scams happen all the time, and the names of these businesses continue to change. This keeps them under the radar. They tend to give you a limited amount of time to complete the purchase. You feel the pressure to give them money or miss out on the deal. They never send you anything or what they do send isn’t legitimate. By the time you figure that out, they have disappeared and changed their name. It is impossible to track them down.
Another scenario with this is for those trying to sell gold coins online. They make it easy for you to send them in and they will appraise them. They share if you don’t like the price they offer they will send them back. The problem is they never pay anything and they don’t send them back. Your coins are gone and you have nothing to show for them.
DELIVERY SCAMS
Buying gold online opens the door to more scams than in-person purchases. It also offers more opportunities to find what you seek. One of the scams has to do with delivery. They may try to gain your trust by asking you to pay for a small amount of the full order. They send it to you and you are happy with it. You don’t think twice about sending the remaining payment.
Once you send the additional payment, you may not get anything further delivered. They have taken your money. There is no way to get in touch with them and your money is gone. Other scams do send you the additional items after the second payment. However, those items are fake gold.
It is always best to set up cash on delivery for gold if you buy it online. This gives you the opportunity to inspect it when it arrives. Don’t pay for it until you are sure it is the real thing. If you have any suspicious decline delivery and it can be sent back to the seller.
FAKE GOLD
When it comes to the top gold buying scams, fake gold tops the list. Many items look real, but they are gold-plated. They aren’t worth a fraction of what was paid for them. Always check the structure of the product before you accept it and before you pay for it. If you buy online, verify the background of the provider and use a method of payment with protection just in case.
FAKE DOCUMENTS
Among the top gold buying scams are fake documents. It is upsetting to be duped after you looked at the documentation to verify the gold. Such documents can look very similar to real ones. The providers of such scams carefully evaluate real documents and the differences are almost impossible to spot if you don’t have a genuine document with you to compare it to. Even the signatures on such documents are copied and fake so do your homework before you buy.
GET RICH QUICK SCAMS
With so much information online, it isn’t hard for scammers to get personal information. They can send emails that look like they are talking directly to you. In reality, they sent the same email to hundreds of addresses. They will get a few people that respond, and once they have them on the hook, they take advantage.
Such get-rich-quick scams target those that need money or who are too trusting. They share a sob story about inheriting gold but don’t have a way to exchange it for money. They ask someone to help and will give them a portion of the proceeds. They ask you to put your own money on the line to verify you are legitimate. They will take that money and you never get any gold.
Another twist on this is telling you they can’t sell the gold because they live in a different country or someone stole their identity. They want you to do it all for them but they are taking advantage of your generosity. You will never make any money engaging with such scammers. They try to make it seem like it is a legitimate offer, and many are embarrassed they fell for it. They never report it because they don’t want anyone to know they didn’t realize it was a scam.
RARE COINS
Collectors seek rare coins to add to their collection. When they see their offer, they jump on the chance. They know what these coins are worth and there is a demand for them. Often there is a backstory such as they need money for an emergency or due to COVID-19 and must sell the coins. The collector sends the funds and they are eager to get that new addition. The coin never arrives or what does get sent is counterfeit.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK
The only way to prevent gold buying scams is to do your homework. Never send any gold to a company for them to evaluate. Instead, take to a local provider who can give you the value of the gold in person. You can decide to take the items with you or exchange them for the amount they offer. Always confirm the transaction is legitimate before you send any money to anyone. Legitimate providers don’t mind giving you the necessary information for your peace of mind.