Fake Perth Mint ingots - trying to contact people scammed

[cufflinks2u]

Hello

In June I bought a very realistic Perth Mint gold ingot 1ounce from a seller<Removed>

The seller sold about 7 of these ingots for about $10000 worth.

I became suspicious and took the gold bar to ABC bullion in Sydney who scanned it and found it to be fake.

Its highly likely these other people have no idea about the scam.

I have reported it to ebay but I doubt they will get in touch with the buyers so if you bought from this person please get your item checked properly.

Also paypal were useless so I am badly out of pocket.  Will not be buying on ebay for big things from now on.  Too risky.

[padi*0409]

When you opened a dispute with Paypal, did you upload the result from ABC Bullion? If you didn't then Paypal have no evidence that the item was fake.

[collect247]

You should be able to get your money back through PayPal if you go through the correct procedure as there is still time.

And why did you take so long to see if the gold was real?

As soon as I purchase silver or gold I test it immediately to see if it is fake.

[springyzone]

If you can upload the evidence & make a paypal claim, do so.

I'm not actually sure without looking it up how much you can claim or if there are limits but anything you can get back is better than nothing.

That's a huge amount to spend on an ebay purchase & you're right, ebay definitely isn't the palce for these sorts of purchases. Go directly to the mint or reputable dealers.

[letscleanupmycupboards]

Springy can claim up to $20k on PayPal

[lyndal1838]

I see you have already contacted paypal but did you actually open a dispute?

If you funded the paypal payment with a credit or Visa debit card you can contact your bank about a chargeback but do it soon as some banks have a short timefram for chargebacks.

[4green2000]

i know someone who bought (off ebay) one that looks exactly like the one in your photo. tested at 99.99% pure gold. maybe get it tested somewhere else? just a suggestion.

[springyzone]

I was talking to someone about this and they brought up an interesting question.

After 5 months, how can anyone know for sure that the gold ingot the buyer has produced is the one that was sent?

I'm not questioning you personally cufflinks as I think you sound genuine, but just raising it as a general issue that a seller could bring up to claim reasonable doubt.

I think the only way would be if all buyers from that person had their ingots tested and all were found to be fake, then the balance of probability would be the seller was sending fakes.

But it raises another question (as i don't know much about ingot prices). How much would the ingots cost if bought at the Perth mint, versus how much did they sell on ebay for?

If we're looking at an amazing bargain price, that would always raise questions in my mind about authenticity.

[*tippy*toes*]

Often the fakes and replicas are "finished" in 999 gold, meaning they are gold plated. Ususally over copper. Unless you cut them open, I don't know if a tester would show them as fakes or not, given the outside is real gold. I have a couple of fakes here. They were bought as fakes for a few bucks (50c - $2.50). I liked the look of them, they certainly weren't for reselling! It would be interesting to see how they showed on a tester.

[4green2000]

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

Often the fakes and replicas are "finished" in 999 gold, meaning they are gold plated. Ususally over copper. Unless you cut them open, I don't know if a tester would show them as fakes or not, given the outside is real gold. I have a couple of fakes here. They were bought as fakes for a few bucks (50c - $2.50). I liked the look of them, they certainly weren't for reselling! It would be interesting to see how they showed on a tester.

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maybe an ultrasonic thickness gauge tester would work or an xray?