Are you planning to buy gold? Watch out for scammers! There is no opportunity in this market

Are you planning to buy gold? Be careful! Counterfeit gold appears particularly traded online. The latest data on record inflation - 16,1 percent. - they are conducive to making a decision about allocating savings in safe assets. One such good is gold, which holds its value well (as opposed to money). For thousands of years, it has been perceived as a safe form of capital investment, which is why it constantly attracts both investors and fraudsters. What should be checked before we decide to buy bullion? Where to buy gold of good quality and how can you recognize real gold from a counterfeit? - these questions are answered by Jarosław Żołędowski, President of the Treasury Mint.

Currently, there are many opportunities on the Polish market to invest your capital in gold. There are bullion coins, bars, gold jewelry or the so-called. "Paper gold", or financial instruments that only give the investor the ability to track the rate of this metal. By investing in gold there is one simple rule to remember - there is no such thing as "bargain" in this market. Any overly attractive price should arouse the buyer's vigilance if he does not want to risk losing his property. The safest option to buy gold is to visit a branch of a gold distributor that has been known for years, online purchase from the same company or a point of the National Bank of Poland.

Gold attracts counterfeiters and fraudsters ...

Gold has been counterfeit for centuries, but getting close to the perfect counterfeit in earlier centuries was very difficult. It is easier now. Most often, counterfeit coins or bars can be found on e-commerce platforms or in newly founded companies. There are more and more such fakes in circulation and they are of better quality, and thus pawnshops or small gold collection points often accept such products and then sell them in good faith to new customers. 

- Counterfeit gold appears particularly traded online. Especially a person who buys gold for the first time can actually have a real problem with distinguishing a fabricated product from real gold. Counterfeits are often gold-plated, but made of a derivative of tungsten, which is similar in density to gold and is hard to recognize. One of the main ways to use tungsten is to drill a hole in the bar and fill it with tungsten. A popular material for the preparation of counterfeit gold is also an alloy of copper with zinc, i.e. pinchbeck. However, it is important to know that there are many ways to verify the authenticity of gold. And what is important - we can do it ourselves. In the case of gold bullion coins, a mint ruler is sufficient for this, for bars you should use a magnetic scale or a spectrometer. The physical properties of gold make it not only valuable, but also very distinctive. Counterfeit bars and coins will always differ from the original in one parameter - weight or dimensions. If they are to keep the weight of the original, they will be larger than the original. If they are to keep the dimensions, they will be lighter than the original. The forgeries also differ in the sound they emit when they hit, for example, a table. As a curiosity, I would like to add that last year there was an application available on smartphones that allows you to verify coins using sound frequency. I must admit that thanks to it, the resonance test has gained much importance and is used even by professional investors. And the last advice - it is always worth buying gold from proven companies that have been on the market for years. - says Jarosław Żołędowski, President Of the Treasury Mint.

How to check if gold is real? 

For several years now, mints have been successfully fighting the flood of counterfeits and inventing new security features - microgravings, holograms and QR codes on packaging. Undoubtedly, however, the purchase of gold is an investment that needs to be properly prepared. In favor of buyers, some basic tests can be performed virtually for free.  In the case of a gold bar, the first sign of a potential counterfeit will be the packaging (CertiPack). It should be perfectly matched and should not contain any signs of tampering. The next step to verify the assumption that the bar is counterfeit may be a magnet test - real gold will not be attracted to the magnet. However, there are some exceptions to this rule, so it is not fully authoritative. It is also worth measuring with a spectrometer. This device, even without removing the product from CertiPak, gives the chemical composition of the tested metal. 

We warn against using the services of unlicensed companies. Before opening an account, always make sure it is correct the broker has the appropriate regulations and permits at the indicated financial market supervisory institution.

The authenticity of the coins can be determined exactly by the methods used for the ingot. In addition, sound is an additional way to detect a counterfeit. By placing the coins on your finger and hitting them with a metal object, you will get a long and clear sound for a gold coin, while a tungsten one will not make any. 

However, the main tool for verifying the authenticity of gold coins is mint ruler (Fisch), which can be purchased for less than PLN 100. It is a device used to check the authenticity of gold bullion coins, which was created for investors who choose physical ores. The ruler combines the features of a caliper - it allows you to make precise measurements of the thickness and diameter of coins and indicates the correct weight using a 1 ounce (oz) counterweight.

Mint ruler

The shape of the structure resembles a ruler equipped with symmetrical cutouts called test slots, where the coin to be verified is placed and one notch dedicated to determining authenticity by weight.  For each verified coin, there are two holes corresponding to the original dimensions. There are recesses along the edge of the Fisch ruler to confirm the correct diameter of the coin, while shorter indentations perpendicular to them allow for the assessment of thickness. The holes have been cut according to the exact dimensions, so if the coin falls out or does not fit - you may suspect a counterfeit. The coin weight test also allows you to check the authenticity of the product. When placed in the recess, the coin should weigh over the scales, which is tantamount to its authenticity, when the other dimensions also match.