Another Fake Gold Scam, This Time In India

As is often the case a supposed bargain on gold proved to be a con. Luckily for the victim, he didn't hand all the cash over at once; instead, he slipped the gang of five a down payment and later went to the police once his supicions were aroused.

A deal was struck between them at the rate of [10,000 rupees, or Rs.] per ten grams, half the prevailing market rate. Narsaiah gave them Rs.1,000 as advance and sought some time for arranging the rest of the money.

'However, Narsaiah grew suspicious and informed the police, after which the five were held with two fake gold bricks and a Santro car on Monday,' said the police officer.

During interrogation, they told the police that one of their associates, Tahid, procured fake gold bricks from a jeweller in Julehada in Rajasthan at the rate of Rs.5,000 per brick.

'Efforts are on to apprehend Tahid and the jeweller,' added the police officer.

When a jeweler starts quoting rates for producing fake gold bars, the con is certainly spreading. I haven't seen any reports from North America yet, but I woudn't be surprised if there were. To reinforce the message: it's prudent to consider spot to be the best bargain obtainable. Well below spot means "avoid." Genuine exceptions are much rarer than scams.