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LPB 46/2022
PROBABLE GOLD SELLING SCAM, NEPEAN ON At approximately midday on Friday 08 July 2022, two persons, reportedly of Middle Eastern descent, called on a retail jewellery business in Nepean ON. One apparently spoke little or no English. They showed the jeweller a small piece of wire which on testing proved to be 24k gold. They claimed to have three kilograms of gold wire at their hotel which was for sale and with which they said they would return. On their return at 2.00 pm that day the jeweller denied them access to the store and said that he would need to test all the gold, which would take two days, before any sale could proceed. He also asked for identification. The two claimed that they would fetch their identification and departed. They did not return. COMMENT: Our LPBs 40/2022 and 45/2022 reported two apparent attempts to defraud jewellers in the same manner. One of those attempts was successful and resulted in a loss to the jeweller of around $60,000. The "gold" in that case turned out to be copper wire. It is very likely that the two persons calling on the jeweller in this case were similarly attempting to defraud the jeweller. We do not know whether the attempted fraud was carried out by the same people who were involved in the events described in those bulletins or whether it was an separate pair of fraudsters. Regardless, jewellers should be on the alert for this scam, which requires little more than a very small piece of gold and a spool of copper wire, and might happen to any jeweller in Canada. TIPS: • Private citizens offering to sell small values of gold to jewellers is a common occurrence. However, offers from unknown persons to sell kilograms of gold at a time should be treated with the utmost caution! • Valid government-issued photo identification is a requirement for transactions involving gold. Insist on seeing and if necessary verifying identification before moving ahead with any purchase. An inability or refusal to show identification is a clear red flag! • Do not be tempted by unrealistically low offers! If the offer seems too good to be true, it probably is! • Disbursing very large cash payments to unknown persons, or without valid documentation, is likely not FINTRAC-compliant and may have serious legal implications for jewellers. • Generally speaking, losses that result from sales or transactions that you willingly enter into, even if these losses occur as a result of a trick or deception on the part of another person, are NOT INSURED. • If you are the victim of this or any other crime, even if it was not successful and you suffered no loss, contact the police immediately! NEW: Are you aware of a crime against a jeweller or jewellery business that might be of interest to us and other jewellers? Contact your broker, or email us at tips@jewellersblock.com. |
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