Common gold scams and how to avoid them

Gold attracts fraud because it is valuable, portable and easy to sell. When prices are high, as they have been through 2026, scammers follow the headlines. This guide sets out the scams regulators and police are warning about in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, with real cases and the checks that stop most of them.

Which gold scams should you know about?

1. The courier or "safekeeping" scam

This is the scam police are most worried about. A caller claims to be from your bank's fraud team, a tech company or a government agency. They say your accounts have been hacked and your money must be moved somewhere "safe": gold. You may even be told to buy from a real, legitimate dealer. Then someone comes to your home, or meets you in public, to collect the gold for "safekeeping". You never see it again.

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center warned about this in a January 2024 public service announcement, recording aggregated losses of over $55 million from May to December 2023. In Canada, the Nova Scotia RCMP warned on 5 October 2026 of callers posing as a bank's fraud department, then as police officers with fake badges, to take victims' gold. As the RCMP put it, police will not take financial instruments from people for safekeeping. The FBI says the same of the US government and legitimate businesses: they will never ask you to buy gold.

2. Cold callers with huge markups

A friendly salesperson calls, emails or messages you about gold or silver, often linked to retirement savings. The coins are real, but the price is far above their gold value. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) says some fraudulent dealers have charged spreads of more than 300%. In one case settled in October 2023, customers of California dealer Safeguard Metals paid an average markup of 71% while their agreement stated a maximum of 23%. About 450 people lost roughly $68 million, mostly retirement savings, according to the CFTC.

3. "Rare" or "semi-numismatic" coins

A close relative of the cold-call scam. You are told a coin is scarce and will rise faster than plain bullion. The CFTC calls "semi-numismatic" a made-up term and says such coins are usually not rare and can be harder to sell than bullion. See bullion vs numismatic coins for how to tell the difference.

4. Financed or leveraged gold deals

You pay a fraction of the price and the seller "lends" you the rest, with fees and interest. The US Federal Trade Commission told a Senate committee in 2014 that telemarketers selling these deals claimed prices were sure to climb, without revealing that buyers were borrowing most of the price and would owe substantial fees. It described them as highly leveraged, high-risk and largely unprofitable.

5. Clone firms and fake dealer websites

Scammers copy the name, address and registration details of a real firm, then send you brochures or a website link that looks genuine. The UK Financial Conduct Authority said consumers reported over £78 million lost to clone firm investment scams in 2020, an average of £45,242 each (FCA, January 2021). Its advice applies to gold sellers too: use the contact details from an official register or the company's long-established website, never the ones the caller gives you.

6. Counterfeit coins and bars

Fakes range from gold-plated copper to bars with a tungsten core, because tungsten weighs almost the same as gold. They turn up most often on auction sites, marketplaces and social media. The Perth Mint's guidance is to buy from the mint or approved distributors, distrust "no returns" listings and prices that look too good, check weight and dimensions against published specifications, and look for security features such as its micro-laser engraved mark on bullion coins and "VOID" tamper-evident packaging on minted bars.

7. Storage that does not exist

Some schemes sell you gold that is "held in a vault for you" and charge storage fees, but the metal was never bought. The CFTC notes that some fraudulent dealers charge storage and insurance fees for metal that does not exist. Legitimate vault providers give you regular statements listing your specific holdings, and allow audits or collection.

8. Lowball buyers when you sell

Not every scam happens when you buy. "We buy gold" mail-in envelopes, pop-up buyers and party sellers may pay a small fraction of melt value. Know what your gold is worth before you sell: our guide on how to sell gold explains how.

Worked example: does the price make sense?

A quick price check catches many scams. On 10 October 2026 the spot price of gold was £3,171.03 per troy ounce in the UK and $4,195.60 in the US (gold-api.com, recorded with our checks). The cheapest single 1oz coins we found were:

Real prices from dealers' product pages; spot from gold-api.com at the time of the check. Hypothetical rows are illustrations, not real offers. Full data on our premium tracker.

No legitimate dealer sells below spot for long, because it would lose money on every coin. And a markup far above the single figures you see at mainstream dealers needs an exceptional reason.

How do you check a seller before you pay?

1. Who contacted whom? If they approached you, stop. Both the CFTC and the FCA say to reject unsolicited offers.
2. Look the business up independently. Find its website yourself, check how long it has traded and that it has a physical address. In the US, the CFTC notes retail metal dealers are not regulated at federal level, so check your state attorney general or securities regulator for complaints.
3. Get every price, fee and the buyback price in writing before paying. A missing fee disclosure is a red flag, according to the CFTC.
4. Compare with spot. Multiply the gold weight by the live spot price and compare with what you are being charged.
5. Pay the company, not a person. Transfer only to an account in the dealer's registered company name.
6. Never hand over gold or cash to a courier, "police officer" or "bank agent", however convincing.

What does this mean in the US, UK, Canada and Australia?

Whatever country you are in, call your bank first if you have sent money. The faster you act, the better the chance of stopping a transfer.

Common mistakes that let scams succeed

• Trusting caller ID. Numbers can be faked to look like your bank or the police.
• Staying on the line. Hang up and call back on a number you find yourself, such as the one on your bank card.
• Keeping it secret. Scammers often tell victims not to tell family or bank staff. That instruction alone is a warning sign.
• Buying the story, not the gold. Plain bullion from known mints, bought at a clear premium over spot, leaves little room for tricks. Our step-by-step buying guide shows how.

Not financial advice. GoldVetted provides general information to help you compare options. It is not personal financial, tax or legal advice. Gold prices go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you pay. Check tax rules with the official source or a qualified adviser before you act.