Protect Yourself From Counterfeit Gold With These 5 Proven Tips

Gold investors are shocked by a recent discovery that a jeweler in Ottawa was sold a counterfeit gold bar by a local bank. Many are now wondering whether their gold could have been part of a counterfeit ring. As with currency counterfeiting, if there’s one fake out there, there’s probably more.

Here at Silver Gold Bull, we buy most of our gold coins and bars directly from the Royal Canadian Mint, as well as directly from mints around the world like the U.S. Mint, Australia’s Perth Mint, the South African Mint (made famous by the gold Krugerrand), and the Royal Mint of Britain. When we buy gold from individuals trading in their investments, we verify the authenticity of the gold before sending payment. We do this by using an x-ray fluorescence tester in conjunction with a highly accurate digital scale and digital calipers.

However, if you’ve bought bullion from a local silver and gold dealer or you just want to double check the authenticity of your gold when you buy, there are a few precautions you can take.

#1 Hold Your Gold

Don’t let your gold bullion go unseen. Buying from an online dealer is safe and guaranteed, so don’t feel you need to go to a bullion store. While you can find a bullion store in Ottawa, Toronto , Vancouver, or anywhere in Canada, they often charge higher premiums than we do. That’s because as an online gold dealer, Silver Gold Bull has lower overhead. You can use allocated storage, another service we offer, if you’re investing in very large sums of gold, but many investors like gold bullion because they can keep it in a safe in their home and hold it to make sure it’s real for themselves.

#2 Test Weight and Size

The first thing you should do if you want to verify gold or silver bullion yourself is test the weight of the gold. Look at the purity number stamped on the coin or bar. Gold and silver are both very dense metals, so fakes will either be too light or they will be larger than the real thing in order to fake the weight.

#3 The “Ping” Test

Real gold and silver bullion don’t just have a particular weight and size, they also have a unique sound. They should make a chiming sound when you strike them, whereas a bar that’s been filled with tungsten (a common counterfeiting trick) will sound much duller.

#4 Allocated Storage

One of the concerns with gold counterfeiting isn’t when you buy the gold, but when you go to claim it from storage. If you store gold at a bank, the bar you put in is not the same bar you take back out, since they’re stored collectively. By contrast, allocated storage means that your gold is put in its own vault with your name on it. That’s how we store gold coins and bars at Silver Gold Bull and how we maintain the integrity of your investment.

#5 Buy from a Reputable Dealer

Finally, and most importantly, your best protection against counterfeiting is to buy from a reputable dealer like us. In addition to guaranteed authenticity of your gold, we can also provide you with all the information about investing in silver and gold you need, as well as a huge inventory of different coins, bars, rounds, and wafers.

Your gold is safe when you buy it from a reliable online gold dealer with a reputation to protect..