Bought a Very High Quality Fake Ounce of Gold on eBay - Have You as Well?

TheCutter on 18/10/2017 - 11:06

I've bought PM's on ebay - very carefully - for over 15 years.
In those days you could find a sovereign or two that was overlooked and get a true bargain.
Now nothing seems to be missed and I rarely buy from there.

Although more suspicious now I came across an ounce of Perth mint gold about a month ago - in its true tamper proof case - from a seller with about 20 feedbacks 100% positive.
Also he used his real name as a handle.

Warning bells were that it was a short auction ending friday morning - but with paypal - what the hell? and I bought it for $1250.

It arrived and looked amazing - I looked on the perth mint website and it looked real - I took it to a jeweller who said it was real…..

More looking on line revealed a story of a factory in china targeting the perth mint and so I took it to ABC bullion in Sydney.

They scanned it and its fake.

I got in touch with the seller who exclaimed surprise and promised a refund if I returned it. Opened paypal dispute who want to you to sort it out without them involved initially.
He gave me his address and I sent it back and have heard nothing since so have escalated it with paypal. I regret sending it back but ebay have no lines of communication for this sort of con.

I know he sold about 6 other perth mint fake ounces on ebay and doubt he's got in touch with them as he said he would.

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Comments

  • ausdday on 18/10/2017 - 11:29

    That's really interesting. How real is that bar?

    Gold is a very dense metal, so usually, fake bar(with alloy composite) tends to be bigger in size for the same ounce. Does your fake bar's thickness and weight match?

    Current spot gold price is around A$16xx, people selling perth mint for A$1250 will raise my suspicious.

    • TheCutter on 18/10/2017 - 12:03

      No - its slightly thicker and thats what got me thinking - I dont have any to compare with and i think I'll avoid perth mnit stuff completely now as they are being highly targeted. I let the perth mint know and they did the usual of only buying it from them but the whole point of gold is that you can keep it a long time and pass it on while receipts get lost.

      • TheCutter on 18/10/2017 - 12:07

        the engraving quality is very precise / perfect.

        PM me and i'send you a photo

        • Joe Sixpack on 28/10/2017 - 14:45

          Please put a photo up at imgur.com or other free online photo repository.

  • nocure on 18/10/2017 - 11:32

    Although more suspicious now I came across an ounce of Perth mint gold about a month ago - in its true tamper proof case - from a seller with about 20 feedbacks 100% positive.
    Also he used his real name as a handle.

    Warning bells were that it was a short auction ending friday morning - but with paypal - what the hell? and I bought it for $1250.

    All these warning signs, you can't rely on PayPal anymore to bail you out.

    • TheCutter on 18/10/2017 - 12:05

      Paypal better

      Ebay can work for gold especiALLY with 10% discounts of coins - 10% under spot gold with another 1.25% cash back is as good as it gets but with the developments in fakery the party is over i would agree.

      • philart on 18/10/2017 - 13:53

        "counterfeiting".

  • TheCutter on 18/10/2017 - 12:30
    +2

    i've joined imgur!!!

    https://imgur.com/rORw2Jc

    https://imgur.com/203DnFE

    • Ryanek on 18/10/2017 - 12:34

      Indeed a great looking fake.

    • Joe Sixpack on 28/10/2017 - 14:48

      The printing on the front of the card is poor quality (blurry). That's the "tell".

  • ausdday on 18/10/2017 - 12:35
    +1

    Is it the lighting? I feel the colour of the bar looks dull.

    Also the printing of the packaging card looks dodgy :)

    Mind to share the seller page? So that we all can avoid?

    Someone bought a fake perth mint from ebay as well.
    https://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=27396…

    And perth mint noticed counterfeit bar as well
    http://www.perthmintbullion.com/au/blog/blog/15-05-20/Don_t_…

    • Joe Sixpack on 28/10/2017 - 14:55

      The Perth Mint blog is waaaay out of date. The flaws they list in the fake have been fixed by the counterfeiters.

  • aoeueoa on 18/10/2017 - 12:44
    +2

    You need to report this to police.

    • TheCutter on 18/10/2017 - 13:24
      +2

      goddam right i will

  • marcusv on 18/10/2017 - 13:02
    +3

    They sell fakes on Aliexpress

    I'm guessing the seller knows exactly what they are doing and plays dumb when caught out.

    Do you have a link to the listing you purchased from? In the photos you posted, the printing on the packaging looks to be really poor quality which would have been a give away. I'm interested to see how they were presented in the listing.

    • TheCutter on 18/10/2017 - 13:28
      +1

      If he doesn't refund me you can have his address too.

      The funny thing is people joke about bikies but my brother actually is one….

      • [Deactivated] on 18/10/2017 - 13:43
        +7

        but my brother actually is one….

        Then you should have purchased the gold from him/associates. Surely they would have a stash in their clubhouse.

    • TheCutter on 18/10/2017 - 14:09

      THx for that - that aliexpress is a shocker…. I think the other poor mugs that bought them have just tucked them away and are going to get a big shock one day.
      This is how I felt…

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3AVr-tvtV8

  • abb on 18/10/2017 - 13:34
    +7

    That's shit. Hope you get your cash back.

    For reference for anyone else who might find themselves in a similar situation:

    http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/money-back-guarantee.…

    If a buyer suspects that an item is counterfeit and there are strong indicators that this is true (for example: third-party authentication, or a statutory declaration by the buyer), we don't require the buyer to return the item to the seller. The buyer agrees to ensure the proper disposal of the item and may not sell it on eBay or elsewhere. We refund the buyer for the full cost of the item and original postage, and the seller reimburses us for the refund.

    (emphasis added)

    • TheCutter on 18/10/2017 - 14:00

      aaarghh, thanks for posting that

  • MathNerd on 18/10/2017 - 15:40
    +4

    Paging Bullion Baron :)

  • Euphemistic on 18/10/2017 - 16:35
    +2

    I can't believe anyone would buy something like that with such high value off an ebay seller. If it looks too good to be true….

  • BertieBrown on 18/10/2017 - 22:50

    So would this be the same as printing fake money; as in would the federal police want or need to be involved?

    • altomic on 20/10/2017 - 00:11
      +2

      No, it's not legal tender.

      • BertieBrown on 20/10/2017 - 07:47

        Thanks for the info altomic :) I wasn’t sure, I think I’ve seen too many movies.

  • TheCutter on 29/11/2017 - 17:48
    Merged from Anyone Else Been Scammed by Phebmile0 on eBay??

    This is a follow up story to another I posted on how I ended up getting sold a fake gold perth mint sealed bar on ebay.

    I was too relaxed thinking Paypal would help - they did not.

    Ebay of course did not - they are too busy counting their money

    I bought the first of this persons gold bars on ebay and realised it was fake about 2 months later.

    I tried to leave follow up feedback that would have warned people he was selling fakes - it would not publish.

    This person has sold over $10000 of fake gold bars and ebay has not done a thing - I emailed them last month to warn them and i see he is still selling fakes - after I warned them!!

    http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PAMP-Suisse-1-Oz-9999-Gold-Bar-Se…

    finally she/he has been left negative feedback but I was wondering if we could find the other people who are perhaps blissfully unaware they have fake gold

    if you have been scammed to PM me!

    puts you off ebay - i will be avoiding ebay and am dumping paypal - which is not easy to do. I've tried cancelling my bank account link with paypal and it won't let me.

    so beware the seller Phebmile0 - Email [email protected]

    i have the address of this person too.

    • currentfad on 29/11/2017 - 17:56
      +1

      Perfect storm for Bikies

  • soupkitchen on 29/11/2017 - 18:29
    -2

    I think you miss the point, money/ownership/government/law is fake. Gold, diamonds, land value etc is essentially $0, or of no real tangible, registrable value. It's all a con. You are a slave vac.

    • mbck on 29/11/2017 - 19:33

      Since they're 0 in your eyes… Can 8 have all your money and gold and jewelry? Happy to reimburse the postage fee.

      • soupkitchen on 30/11/2017 - 02:45
        -1

        Sure as soon as you free yourself and myself from someone else's citizen slavery ownership scam. Then you can have my house title and car. Postage paid!

        • mbck on 30/11/2017 - 09:57

          Then you truly don't believe that. Good luck

  • smashed on 30/11/2017 - 10:04

    Why is it not a standard "a" in the word tamper on the packaging? Was that not a giveaway or is that standard?

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