Man claims to have been scammed over 26.2 grams of gold worth over 6,000 yuan; the other party says the gold has impurities and requires refining fees, experts warn

This article is reprinted from Yangcheng Evening News

On February 11, a Mr. Chen from Guangdong reported that he contacted someone online to have his gold recycled, and the person arrived at his door at midnight. The other party said that the gold needed to be melted according to the recycling procedure. They claimed to purchase gold marked 999.9, but after melting, they argued that the gold had a reddish hue and a strong granular texture, indicating impurities, and demanded a 20% refining fee. Originally, the recycling price for 26.2 grams of gold should have been over 29,000 yuan, but after an 80% discount, he was only offered over 23,000 yuan.

After the transaction, Mr. Chen searched online and found that similar scams are common. When he tried to contact the other party to get his money back and retrieve his gold, they refused to answer his calls. Currently, Mr. Chen has reported the case to the police. “Never trust door-to-door gold recycling services!”

It is understood that there are now various channels for gold recycling, including banks, branded jewelry stores, professional recyclers, online second-hand trading platforms, pawnshops, and small merchants. The gold price for recycling is mainly based on the daily gold market price, which is the benchmark spot gold price on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, minus certain fees. The types and amounts of fees vary significantly across different channels.

Among these, complaints about offline recycling mainly focus on merchants charging high handling fees, loss fees, opaque fee standards, and disputes caused by excessive weight loss after melting and verification. Online recycling complaints often involve consumers sending gold for inspection, but merchants failing to make payments within the stipulated time or even refusing to pay.

Recently, gold prices have risen. On February 13, spot gold increased by 2% intraday to $5,019.64 per ounce. On February 14, brands like Chow Tai Fook, Chow Sang Sang, and Lao Feng Xiang all quoted over 1,500 yuan per gram for physical gold. To protect personal interests, consumers should be cautious when facing “high-price recycling.”

Expert Reminder:

Consumers should not blindly trust so-called “high-price recycling” and should choose reputable institutions to sell their gold.

Before recycling, they should understand the daily Shanghai Gold Exchange gold price, gold purity testing, weight calculation, and other basic knowledge, and inquire in detail about all recycling fees.

They should supervise the weighing and gold verification process throughout and keep all transaction receipts to safeguard their rights.