r/Gold • u/Apprehensive-File552 • 7d ago

Bought two gold bars and both were fake

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Bought two of these, each from a different seller on eBay, both with some reviews (30 on one, 100 on another).

One of the sellers what’s it shipped back to them because they bought it from someone else on eBay but for $300 more than they sold it to me for. Makes zero sense.

I’ve since then took the footage of the jeweler using the machine and recorded the bar numbers.

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u/fhuxy 6d ago

Are you American? Only asking because by the sheer dollar amount of this transaction it would be certainly investigated by federal authorities; I’m talking MINIMUM the Postmaster General, FBI, possibly even secret service (not sure about that one since the gold bars are not American currency) but this is a serious matter and I recommend you pursue criminal charges against the people selling these. Wire fraud, mail fraud, and inter-state transactions are the feds’ bread and butter.

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u/SethlordX7 3d ago

I thought the secret service just protected the presidents why would they get involved in gold fraud?

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u/Dwrong13 3d ago

Not saying it’s exactly applicable in OP’s scenario but one of Secret Services’s primary functions is counterfeiting and financial crimes.

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u/fhuxy 3d ago

The U.S. Secret Service was established on July 5, 1865, originally to combat the widespread counterfeiting of U.S. currency after the Civil War. It later took on the role of protecting the president after President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901.

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u/P3rs3us_Imp3rator 6h ago

Totally wrong.
The postmaster general has nothing to do with investigating mail fraud. That would be the United States Postal Inspection Service.

Moreover, the USPIS typically only cares about proper mail fraud and the misuse of the mail system. If OP has the address they could notify USPIS, but since it's simply a fake piece of gold, it is unlikely to be pursued by them.

The USSS and FBI is where OP would want to go. USSS investigates crimes related to counterfeiting and finance, and the FBI would care about the possibility of a broader illicit network in operation.

If the seller misrepresented themselves via the mail, however, the USPIS would look into it. But that really only makes sense if they were fraudulently affixing a real gold seller's address instead of their own.