Last fall, a gold merchant from New York spent $72 000 on gold bullions… which turned out to be fake. 4 bullions (10oz each) looked like authentic ingots. They even had serial numbers. The news shocked thousands of holders of gold bullions around the globe.
POPSCI, revealed “How To Make Cheap Fake Gold”.
The article reads:
That’s pretty scary when you consider how many people own gold—or think they do.
You can read more on the ways and means of counterfeiting gold by following the link: http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2013-01/gray-matter-how-make-cheap-fake-gold
We are not going to go into detail on that in this article.
Experts and Facebook Users’ Opinion
Which is more important is the reaction caused by the news.
In particular, Facebook users have noticed a controversial tendency – while the global production of gold declines, the amount of jewelry stores keeps growing.
Some of them are indignant how easy it is to fall prey to counterfeiters while others say that gold should be bought in banks only.
Experts say that the controversial tendency is the result of an increase in the amount of fake gold worldwide. Moreover, counterfeits get more sophisticated, which makes them hard to identify.
However, they mentioned a number of aspects to consider when purchasing gold.
In particular, a Facebook user provided a list of methods to tell genuine gold from fake one:
Iodine. The easiest way to check the authenticity of your gold bullions is to use iodine. You put a drop of iodine on top of gold and wait for 3 minutes. If the gold changes its color, that’s a counterfeit. Otherwise, that’s genuine gold.
Magnet. There are counterfeiters that simply make fake ingots with gold sputtering. Obviously, such counterfeits can be identified with a magnet.
Vinegar. Another way to identify fake gold is to put it in vinegar for a while. A counterfeit will darken.
There is another method: Throw gold in water. If it is sinks fast enough, that’s genuine gold.
Why do they keep counterfeiting gold? According to ,the global demand for gold will growing this year at the expense of China and India, the world’s two major consumers of gold. This is going to be the 13th year of growth. That is why the amount of fake gold keeps growing as well.
