More fake gold bars sold in New York

More fake gold bars sold in New York




September 24, 2012 at 9:20 AM

Ten more fake gold bars (10 oz. each) have been discovered in New York. They are gold plated tungsten. They get away with it because tungsten is the same weight as gold, so the bars measure the same size and weight. However, tungsten is only worth a dollar an ounce, whereas gold is $1774 an ounce (as of last Friday).

I suggest buying silver, preferably in coins or one ounce "rounds." No one has bothered to counterfeit silver yet, as far as anyone knows. To counterfeit a one ounce round or coin would not be profitable. And besides, silver is in short supply and very hard to get. I have a friend who has ordered silver, and has had to wait for a few months to get it. He recently got another notice that he will have to wait another 30 days to receive it--either because supplies are extremely tight (as they claim) or because they don't want to send him $35 silver when he purchased it for $27. (They probably will lose money, because they sold silver they did not have in stock and have to purchase it now on the open market.)

Beware of counterfeit gold bars


September 20, 2012 at 8:55 AM


In jewelry stores on 47th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the important trust between merchants has been violated. A 10-ounce gold bar costing nearly $18,000 turned out to be a counterfeit.

The bar was filled with tungsten, which weighs nearly the same as gold but costs just over a dollar an ounce....

The Secret Service, which deals with counterfeits, said it is investigating.

In March, gold bars filled with tungsten showed up in England. With New York now hit, it may mean an international ring is involved.

Comment: A few years ago, China bought about 600 tons of gold bars from London. When they got to Hong Kong, they checked them by drilling into them, and found that they were filled with tungsten and just gold plated. These were traced back to the US government, which apparently has been counterfeiting gold for quite some time, in order to make it look like it has plenty of gold reserves.

The counterfeiting ring is sophisticated, because it is likely to be the government itself. Don't expect the Secret Service to find the culprits.

It is less likely that silver would be counterfeited, but it is always safer to buy metals in one-ounce pieces, rather than large bars. It is less likely to be counterfeited, especially silver pieces.