Most Popular
1. Banking Crisis is Stocks Bull Market Buying Opportunity - Nadeem_Walayat
2.The Crypto Signal for the Precious Metals Market - P_Radomski_CFA
3. One Possible Outcome to a New World Order - Raymond_Matison
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
5. Apple AAPL Stock Trend and Earnings Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
6.AI, Stocks, and Gold Stocks – Connected After All - P_Radomski_CFA
7.Stock Market CHEAT SHEET - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.US Debt Ceiling Crisis Smoke and Mirrors Circus - Nadeem_Walayat
9.Silver Price May Explode - Avi_Gilburt
10.More US Banks Could Collapse -- A Lot More- EWI
Last 7 days
Stock Market Volatility (VIX) - 25th Mar 24
Stock Market Investor Sentiment - 25th Mar 24
The Federal Reserve Didn't Do Anything But It Had Plenty to Say - 25th Mar 24
Stock Market Breadth - 24th Mar 24
Stock Market Margin Debt Indicator - 24th Mar 24
It’s Easy to Scream Stocks Bubble! - 24th Mar 24
Stocks: What to Make of All This Insider Selling- 24th Mar 24
Money Supply Continues To Fall, Economy Worsens – Investors Don’t Care - 24th Mar 24
Get an Edge in the Crypto Market with Order Flow - 24th Mar 24
US Presidential Election Cycle and Recessions - 18th Mar 24
US Recession Already Happened in 2022! - 18th Mar 24
AI can now remember everything you say - 18th Mar 24
Bitcoin Crypto Mania 2024 - MicroStrategy MSTR Blow off Top! - 14th Mar 24
Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast 2024 - 11th Mar 24
Gold and the Long-Term Inflation Cycle - 11th Mar 24
Fed’s Next Intertest Rate Move might not align with popular consensus - 11th Mar 24
Two Reasons The Fed Manipulates Interest Rates - 11th Mar 24
US Dollar Trend 2024 - 9th Mar 2024
The Bond Trade and Interest Rates - 9th Mar 2024
Investors Don’t Believe the Gold Rally, Still Prefer General Stocks - 9th Mar 2024
Paper Gold Vs. Real Gold: It's Important to Know the Difference - 9th Mar 2024
Stocks: What This "Record Extreme" Indicator May Be Signaling - 9th Mar 2024
My 3 Favorite Trade Setups - Elliott Wave Course - 9th Mar 2024
Bitcoin Crypto Bubble Mania! - 4th Mar 2024
US Interest Rates - When WIll the Fed Pivot - 1st Mar 2024
S&P Stock Market Real Earnings Yield - 29th Feb 2024
US Unemployment is a Fake Statistic - 29th Feb 2024
U.S. financial market’s “Weimar phase” impact to your fiat and digital assets - 29th Feb 2024
What a Breakdown in Silver Mining Stocks! What an Opportunity! - 29th Feb 2024
Why AI will Soon become SA - Synthetic Intelligence - The Machine Learning Megatrend - 29th Feb 2024
Keep Calm and Carry on Buying Quantum AI Tech Stocks - 19th Feb 24

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

Confessions of a Gold Scammer, Lessons to Learn

Commodities / Gold and Silver 2011 Nov 02, 2011 - 05:20 AM GMT

By: GoldSilver

Commodities

Best Financial Markets Analysis ArticleLast week on Good Morning America, ABC ran an exclusive on the $ 29.5 million Global Bullion Exchange fraud.  The piece presented the mastermind behind the gigantic gold and silver scam, Jaime Campany.  From 2007 through 2009, Campany and his company's accomplices stole more than 1400 individual investor's savings.  The vast majority of these folks will never recoup their losses.


The Sun Sentinel ran several articles on this particular fraud, you can read further details about it by clicking any of the links below:

Investors lost $29.5 million when S. Florida company closed, documents say - May 12, 2010

Owner of South Florida gold firms admits to fraud - August 5, 2011

The Global Bullion Exchange scam continued on for years, unnoticed by authorities, without prosecution.  The fraud used standard tactics which gold scam and silver scam artists often utilize: playing upon investor greed and investor fear.    

Greed

By offering "leverage accounts" investors were sold via greed.  They were told that by utilizing additional financing to buy more metals, they could then see more upside and higher returns on their investments.  These folks were most probably not warned about their account's liquidation in a short term sell off.  

For more information on leverage account scams and how they work, click here.

Fear

Playing on investor fear, most customers never took physical delivery of their investments.  A vast majority of the supposed gold and silver which the Global Bullion Exchange sold investors was never purchased in the open market, this created a ponzi-like business structure which was destined to collapse and fail.

Red Flags 

Investors in the Global Bullion Exchange had difficulty both selling their "investments" and or taking physical delivery of their holdings.  

Most investors were first contacted by outbound boiler room sales calls utilizing high pressure sales tactics.  

The company offered "leverage accounts" which is always a red flag for high profit dealer sales vehicles.  Reader beware for there are countless dealers in business today who still play upon investor ignorance and eagerness.

Due Diligence is a Must

- By running searches online you can find potential complaint boards, company Better Business Bureau BBB record complaints, etc.  

- Try utilizing the search words scam, rip off, fraud, etc. along with the company you are investigating.  Where you find lots of smoke, chances are high that behind the scenes there is a fire:

Lessons to Learn

- Leverage accounts and collector coins are the 1 - 2 punch for most frauds in the gold and silver industry.  We always steer clear of these "investment" vehicles. 

- Mike Maloney always says, "If you can't hold it, you don't own it."  This is an excellent guideline when considering a third party for bullion storage and safekeeping.

- New investors should first take physical delivery of their bullion investments.  Once holdings become too large or unsafe for home, utilize trusted - fully insured - third party - segregated vault storage facilities where you always receive official third party verifications of your holdings.  

- When selecting third party vault facilities, physical delivery should always be available without limitations or barriers.  Liquidation of holdings should be an easy, secure, and expedient process.

- The fundamentals for gold and silver bullion investing speak for themselves.  Outbound boiler-room phone calls should never be entertained.  You should never allow yourself to be hard sold into any investment, ever.

Sadly, the Global Bullion Exchange fraud will undoubtably not be the last nor the largest gold or silver fraud to unfold in the years ahead.  On our current radar of potential gold and silver investing pitfalls are the following:  pool accounts, various ETFs or exchange traded vehicles, fractional-reserve based gold and silver future exchanges, leverage accounts, gold passbooks, silver passbooks, and more.

Here at GoldSilver.com we will continue to keep our customers apprised of potential gold and silver investment frauds and scams.  Please stay tuned.  

http://goldsilver.com

Mike Maloney is the owner and founder of GoldSilver.com, an online precious metals dealership that specializes in delivery of gold and silver to a customer's doorstep, arranges for special secured storage, or for placement in one's IRA account. Additionally, GoldSilver.com provides invaluable research and commentary for its clients, assisting them in their wealth building endeavors.

© 2011 Copyright  GoldSilver - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.


© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in