How to Avoid Being Scammed By the Increasing Number of Counterfeit Gold and Silver Scams

This is an article I really considered as unnecessary for a long time simply because it deals with common sense, but given the fact that I’ve seen more and more articles about people getting duped into buying counterfeit gold and silver, for the sake of preventing anyone here from being duped, I’ve opted to take the “better safe than sorry” route to ensure newbies do not get scammed. That said, especially given the preface to this article, please do not take this article as an affront to your common sense. I decided to write it simply because if it saves one person reading this article from being scammed in a multi-thousand dollar gold and silver purchase, then I deem the time it took to write this article as worth every second.

To begin, if you are buying from an American dealer, there are two websites against which you can check the credibility of any PM bullion dealer from whom you may be considering purchasing gold/silver coins and bars. They are as follows: Accredited Precious Metals Dealer program (www.APMDdealers.org) or the Professional Numismatists Guild (www.PNGdealers.org).  There are several important caveats about these two sites. One,  these two sites only allow you to check bullion dealers within the United States. Two, even if a dealer does not appear on either of the databases of these two sites, it does not mean that that the dealer is not trustworthy.

One can check the dealer’s rating against the Better Business Bureau (BBB) database in the United States, a business regulatory agency that fields and investigates all customer complaints for American businesses. If customers have had problems with the dealer in the past, for sure there will be dozens to hundreds of complaints and a low BBB rating. Simply only do business with bullion dealers that possess an extremely high BBB rating of A or A+.  If you live outside of the US, most nations have a Better Business Bureau equivalent, so merely consult this organization for ratings of any bullion dealer with whom you are considering doing business.

Furthermore, before buying a single gram of gold and silver form a dealer, to avoid being scammed in your purchase, always discover the answers to the following critical questions as well: