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Counterfeit Precious Metals

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This article is a *must read* for people buying any form of precious metals. It will focus on outright forgeries, fakes, and counterfeits that are otherwise marked as precious metals.

Categories: Instruction and information; Messages and statements; Ethics and laws; Commerce and business

Word count/read time: 396 words; 1-1/2 minutes

Modern counterfeiting techniques have progressed light years beyond stamping a worthless piece of metal with 18k or STERLING. Some forgeries are so good that it will pass every reasonable test imaginable, from specific gravity to scratch tests to electrical impedance to acid tests to hardness tests to spectrographic analysis...even X-rays are ineffective, sorry Röntgen (fire assay, of course, will bust it down).

Flooding markets with counterfeit and fake products taints the value of legitimate products. The entities that could make a huge impact in reducing such fraud are the auction websites that allow it. It is you against the world if you choose to speak up.

Here are instances of fake gold bars infiltrating and fooling respected gold dealers: fake gold story #1 and fake gold story #2. Fake gold bars are startlingly easy to make, silver ones even easier.

China does not participate in the international agreement to combat internet fraud which means their government does not cooperate to prevent or prosecute it. Essentially, there is no recourse when defrauded like this. Government policies tacitly approve of such behaviors.

Conservative estimates by leading world authorities claim 90% of the fake stuff in the world is made in China. Even animals aren't immune. Look at a recent story of a zoo passing off a Tibetan Mastiff as a lion!

NEVER BUY ANY PRECIOUS METALS ORIGINATING FROM CHINA!

Unfair and one-sided policies allow these behaviors. Our president can take the power back, slamming the doors on this travesty. That would stop a lot of enabling and co-dependency!

The trickle-down effect extends to online auction or selling sites which also protect the same types of behaviors. Few venues will remove bad sellers because it's bad for the bottom line.

Simple advice for purchasing silver (and gold or anything else within context):

Buy a refining unit and do it yourself.
Learn how to identify and test for silver.
Limit purchases to sterling silver and other lesser silvers from known manufacturers.
Know what the "current" scams are.
Speak up and use every legal avenue to get justice. Consider suing. Use social media to out them. Here is an article about reporting fraud.

Know your source.

Posted by M: July 4, 2015

Please email any thoughts or comments regarding this post.

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