It's important to identify the deceptive tactics used by scammers, such as the Ponzi scheme, selling fake gold, or doing a bait-and-switch scam to steal your retirement funds for a gold IRA. By doing thorough research, becoming vigilant of cold callers, and verifying the credentials and ratings of a company, you'll be able to protect yourself from gold IRA scams when investing your retirement funds in gold.
If you're a beginner to gold IRA investing, I suggest purchasing your gold or other precious metals from reputable gold IRA companies such as Augusta Precious Metals, Goldco, and Noble Gold. These companies already have a solid track record of customer satisfaction and transparency with their clients, prioritizing your financial well-being and the safety of your retirement funds.
Gold IRA scams are something to watch out for if you're considering investing in gold or other precious metals. There has been an increased presence of individuals seeking to exploit unsuspecting investors to steal their hard-earned money. If you're one of these investors, get ready to equip yourself with the knowledge to identify the warning signs of gold IRA scams.
In this comprehensive guide, we'll show how gold IRA scams work, showcase the popular gold IRA scams by fraudsters, provide valuable tips to avoid getting scammed, and introduce you to the best gold IRA companies you can invest in safely.
How Do Gold IRA Scams Work?
Gold IRA scams work by exploiting your trust through various tactics, especially if you lack knowledge about how the market works. For example, scammers often act as legitimate gold custodians or dealers, offering you an opportunity to invest in a gold IRA. They'll use high-pressure sales tactics like promising guaranteed returns to push you into making hasty decisions without seeking professional advice.
Once you take their bait, they'll sell you overpriced or low-quality gold coins and bars while withholding their fees and information about their company. It’ll be next to impossible to contact their customer support, leaving you trapped and frustrated.
While this sounds scary, it’s perfectly avoidable by following some tips and best practices we’ll share with you and looking out for red flags.
Popular Gold IRA Scams To Look Out For
Since investing in gold has become popular with most investors, there's no doubt someone is out there waiting to take advantage of you and steal your hard-earned money in different ways. Here are the most common gold IRA scams you should know about to avoid making yourself a victim of fraud.
#1 Fool’s Gold Scam
A fool's gold scam is where scammers push you into buying fake gold products. They usually sell counterfeit gold coins and bars generally made of iron pyrite to make it look like real gold. Others are made by bonding a layer of real gold to base metals like brass, copper, zinc, aluminum, or lead.
You can easily spot fake gold by checking its hallmark, which is a stamp that includes the valid purity numbers of the karat system, such as 10k, 14k, 18k, or 24k, along with the manufacturer's name and the millesimal fineness system (.333, 375, .417). However, since anyone can engrave a hallmark on a piece of jewelry, this kind of testing is not 100% foolproof.
What you can do is ask for a certificate of authenticity or check the gold bar’s serial number. You can scan its unique serial number to trace the refinery that created it. For example, PAMP Suisse created the VERISCAN mobile app, where you can authenticate any PAMP gold bars by scanning their surfaces. You can easily download them on your phone to reduce your risk of buying counterfeit PAMP products.
Aside from gold bars, you can verify if your gold coin is original by performing a streak test on an unglazed ceramic tile, and if the coin leaves a grayish streak, it may not be genuine.
If you want to be less obvious, you can easily use a magnet stronger than a typical refrigerator magnet and see if it sticks. If it does, it’s not pure gold, so don’t buy it.
#2 Bait-And-Switch Scam
The Bait and Switch scam is another popular scheme that targets investors looking to invest in gold and other precious metals products.
Like the fool's gold scam, the dealer tries to sell you “high-quality” gold coins and bars at a suspiciously low price. Once you take their bait, they'll tell you that the advertised product is no longer available – and this is where the switch happens. When the item is unavailable, they'll offer you a similar option but at a much higher price. This tactic will make you feel pressured, leaving you to pay more for a product that you didn't actually want in the first place.
To avoid falling for this scam, always purchase from a reputable dealer or custodian with a solid track record and positive reviews online that sells the same gold item you want at a lower price.
#3 Non-Existent Purchase Scam
From the name itself, a non-existent purchase scam happens when scammers claim to be legitimate gold IRA custodians or dealers to sell you gold products without transferring your purchases to your account.
They may use fake websites and customer testimonials to create an illusion that you're transacting with a legitimate company. When you wire your funds for your gold purchases, you won't be able to receive your gold, and the “company” becomes unresponsive to your concerns.
To prevent your retirement funds from being stolen, visit websites with HTTPS on their URL, pay close attention to the domain name. You can also check for grammatical errors in the company's web content since many fake companies like these are foreign and frequently write bad English. A reputable gold IRA company will surely take the time to hire a proper team of writers and editors for their web content to ensure it’s flawless.
#4 Online Payment Scam
An online payment scam happens when someone contacts you online or through a phone call. They'll make you feel interested in buying gold products with promising offers that sound too good to be true.
These scammers also use phishing or fake websites to pass for real, reputable IRA companies, copying how the actual website looks and works, as shown in the screenshot above. They'll use this website to make you purchase the gold items they're “selling” and then steal your personal information, credit cards, or debit cards.
To ensure that you're buying from a trusted gold dealer, avoid picking up calls from people pretending to be an agent in a gold IRA company, and it would be best to search for a company's website directly rather than clicking links from your email.
In general, don’t trust anyone who cold calls you trying to convince you to invest your money in gold or other assets.
#5 “Rare Coins” Scam
If you're interested in investing in rare or collectible coins, there's another scam you may want to know about.
Scammers have another tactic up their sleeves which is selling “exclusive” rare or collectible coins. They'll guarantee significant returns if you invest in that product. If you buy the gold product, you'll soon discover that the gold coins had little to no value, and their actual price was lower than the value you paid for.
So if you're into rare coins, you must find a reputable gold IRA custodian like JM Bullion that sells exclusive precious metals at a fair market price to avoid falling victim to a “rare coins” scam.
#6 Gold IRA Ponzi Schemes
A Ponzi, A.K.A. pyramid scheme is a common scam where scammers offer very high short-term returns for their victims’ investments by funding those returns with the money from new investors. Victims get paid in the early stages of their investment, so they end up investing even more and recommending it to their friends. Once enough people have signed up, the scammers walk away with the money, and everyone is left stranded.
A gold IRA Ponzi Scheme works in the same way. A fake gold IRA company offers gold investments with an unusually high rate of return. However, what really happens is that the “return” you earn comes from new investors' funds rather than from actual gold investments.
For a couple of days or weeks after “buying your gold,” you think you’re doing great because you're earning money. But this Ponzi scheme will eventually collapse when there aren't enough new investors coming in, leaving you and other investors in a financial loss.
To avoid falling into a pyramid scheme, you should only invest in well-known gold IRA companies with proper licensing and certifications and avoid deals that look too good to be true. There's no such thing as “easy money” where you can receive double the profit without doing anything. If the offers sound too good to be true, then reviewing the documentation and how the investment works are the bare minimum steps to protect your money from fraudsters.
#7 Damaged Or Shaved Precious Metals Scam
If someone contacts you claiming to be an online seller offering you a bargain or a discount for purchasing gold, chances are their products have been damaged or shaved.
What they do is shave off tiny amounts of gold to reduce the overall weight of the coins without you knowing about the changes.
Likewise, they might drill a hole in a gold bar and fill it with low-quality metals like tungsten or brass to make it seem authentic but worth less than its market value.
#8 Selling Non-IRA-Approved Gold Coins And Bars
The IRS requires your precious metals to meet specific purity standards before you can invest them in an IRA. Selling non-IRA-approved coins and bars happens when scammers target individuals with little to no knowledge about gold IRA investing.
They'll try to offer you gold bars and coins that the IRS doesn't approve. For example, to invest in a gold IRA, you should purchase gold with at least 99.5% (23.88 karats) purity and silver with at least 99.9% purity. When you buy precious metals that do not meet the requirement, you may face tax penalties, disqualification of tax benefits, or difficulties by the time you withdraw them from your account.
If you need help knowing which gold coins and bars are IRA-eligible, here are some famous gold products you can and cannot invest in.
IRA-Eligible Gold Coins And Bars:
- American Gold Eagle Coins
- American Gold Buffalo
- Canadian Gold Maple Leaf
- Austrian Gold Philharmonic
- Australian Gold Kangaroo
- PAMP Suisse Gold Bars
- Credit Suisse Gold Bars
- Royal Canadian Mint Gold Bars
- Perth Mint Gold Bars
- Valcambi Gold Bars
Non-IRA-Eligible Gold Coins And Bars
- Austrian Corona Gold Coins
- British Britannia (only those that are minted before 2013)
- Mexican Pesos
- Swiss 20 Franc
- Columbian Peso
- German Mark
- French Franc
- Columbian Peso
- Chilean Peso
- Dutch 10 Guilder
5 Tips To Avoid Getting Scammed In A Gold IRA
As you can see, scammers are out to get you. So, it’s important to be cautious when investing in a gold IRA. In this sense, here are 5 tips to protect your retirement funds from scams.
#1 Choosing A Reputable Gold IRA Custodian
Finding a reputable gold IRA custodian is the most important tip to protect your retirement funds from scams. You can search for the best gold IRA companies online to compare their features, offers, and fees that align with your retirement goals.
If you’re short on time, we already did the heavy lifting for you and shortlisted the best gold IRA companies here.
#2 Verify Credentials And Read Customer Reviews
If someone or a company reaches out to you via phone or email, you must verify their credentials and look for independent reviews or ratings. Before you want to invest with them, you must also check for any customer complaints or issues and see if they're responsive to their concerns.
If you think that their testimonials sound too suspicious, you can search the company name on trusted review websites like BBB and Trustpilot to ensure that their ratings are legitimate.
#3 Educate Yourself On Gold IRA Investment
Like any other investment, it's better to be equipped with knowledge when it comes to investing in a gold IRA. It's not only the benefits and risks you need to learn about but also the IRS rules and regulations, eligibility criteria, and how the whole investment works.
Having this knowledge will help you identify any suspicious actions that will lead you to be a potential target for scammers.
If you'd like to have a general knowledge about gold IRA investing, most well-known gold IRA companies offer a free gold IRA kit to their new investors. These are info kits with everything you need to know about gold IRAs and investing in physical gold for retirement. You can easily download these kits by visiting their website and signing up for an account.
#4 Be Wary Of Cold Callers
Getting a phone call from someone you don't know who's selling you high-quality gold products at a low price might be one of the biggest red flags you will ever get.
This is especially true if the cold caller engages in aggressive marketing tactics to make you purchase their products immediately. Note that legitimate gold IRA companies never do this and are always happy to give you all the time you need to decide on your investments.
So instead of doing business with an unknown caller, purchasing directly from a gold IRA company’s website is best to avoid letting the scammers steal your personal or financial information.
#5 Know How They Want You To Pay
Another tip you must know is that scammers will likely make you pay on selected payment methods, making it difficult to recover your funds. These payment methods can be wire transfers, debit cards, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or a personal address on PayPal.
By recognizing this pattern, you'll be more cautious when someone asks to make a payment through these channels.
Best Reputable Gold IRA Companies You Can Trust
Funding a trustworthy gold IRA company is crucial, especially if the market is filled with scams ready to steal your retirement funds. Here are the top 3 reputable gold IRA companies known for their track records, experience, and transparency to their customers.
| Best For | Unique Features | |
| Augusta Precious Metals | Best overall gold IRA company | Known as the “Best Overall Gold IRA Company” by Money Magazine. Free shipping & transit insurance on all eligible orders. Exclusive 1-on-1 web conference with precious metals expertsIt has an Inflation and Retirement Calculator that helps calculate the purchasing power of your money throughout the years. |
| Goldco | Best for free silver bonus and Buy Back program | Offers a 10% silver bonus and free shipping on deliveries.It has a Buy Back Program that allows you to sell your metals at the highest market value. It provides an accurate gold price chart with technical indicators to help you trade. |
| Noble Gold | Best for low minimum investment | A $2,000 minimum investment to open an account. Receive a free coin for first-time investors Offers Royal Survival Packs filled with well-known precious metals in case of emergency |
A Summary Of Gold IRA Scams
Gold IRA scams happen when a fraudster acts as a legitimate custodian or dealer to steal your retirement funds through high-pressure selling tactics. Most popular gold IRA scams involve a deceitful scammer, a susceptible target, and an online channel – either a fake website or phone call – to make their scheme work.
To avoid becoming a victim of scams, you must take some time to educate yourself about gold IRA investing and how it works. This way, it'll be easier to tell if something is authentic or not. This can be a primary tool to protect your retirement funds from scammers.
Gold IRA Scams FAQs
Is a gold IRA a scam?
No, a gold IRA is not a scam. A gold IRA is a legitimate investment option where you can invest in alternative assets like gold or other precious metals. However, you should be aware of the scams within the industry. These may include selling fake gold, shaving or damaging precious metals, offering fake “rare” gold coins, or motivating investors to enter gold IRA Ponzi schemes.
What is the safest gold investment?
The safest gold investment that you can add to your retirement portfolio are gold-backed mutual funds or ETFs. They offer a convenient way to gain more exposure to gold without physically owning it since your custodian will be the one to manage your account, making it less risky than other gold investments.
Is a gold IRA FDIC insured?
No, gold IRAs are not FDIC insured. The FDIC doesn't guarantee the contents of a safe deposit box in a bank, unlike bank deposits. If you want to protect your precious metals, you’ll need to buy your own insurance, which your custodian can offer at a price.
How is gold checked?
Gold can be checked in various ways. One of the ways to verify its authenticity and quality is to do acid testing, where a professional applies nitric acid that dissolves any base metals that aren't pure gold. The scratch test and magnet tests are also ways to quickly tell if a piece of metal is pure gold or not. There are also other more sophisticated tests, like measuring the piece’s density.
Can I store my gold IRA at home?
Yes, you can choose home storage for your gold IRA, but only under very limiting and strict conditions. However, it's not recommended to store your gold IRA at home. It’s better to keep your gold in an IRS-approved depository to ensure that your custodian can protect it from damage or theft and avoid tax benefit disqualifications or penalties.
