Some Must Reads in the Silver and Gold World

With every wonderful investment opportunity comes the brains who had the guts to stand up and share the wealth (no pun intended). Precious metals “investing” can be dated back to ancient Rome and even further. There have been numerous voices singing the praises of hard assets. Well, here’s a few of the contemporary writers/influential voices. Read these books. You’ll feel well-versed in precious metal history and buying, which in turn will help you deter any scams that come your way:

“The Case Against the Fed” – Dr. Ron Paul

“Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit From the Economic Collapse” – Peter Schiff

“Guide to Investing in Gold & Silver” – Mike Maloney

“Precious Metal Investing for Dummies” – Paul Mladjenovic

“Get the Skinny on Silver Investing” – David Morgan

Each author has their own flavor and perspective, but most agree having a portion, if not a big chunk, of your portfolio in physical metal is a good idea. Take a gander at these books and see if you can become that much more prepared for your silver and gold buying experiences.

Happy buying,

Megan

The Better Business Bureau Exposed

As gold scams pop up around the country and world we are providing you information in order to help you avoid becoming a victim of the scams. This time around it’s not the precious metal dealer that is scamming you. It’s the one rating the deceitful precious metal dealer.

Peter Schiff talked this month on his show on SchiffRadio.com about a suspicion he had about the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and their rating system. The gold scam of the year was undoubtedly the GoldLine fiasco, and with their trial taking place this month in Santa Monica, Peter decided to check and see what happened to their BBB rating. They were originally listed as an A+, now no rating existed at all. No F’s, not even a C! This wasn’t because they were disqualified all together from the site for their obvious fraudulent activity…the site’s reason for no rating was that there was “not enough information” to rate this company. HA!

Peter dug around to see what the BBB had to say about EuroPacific and was promptly met with a big F. This was due to one customer complaint, within one year, that had been filed; which was the ONLY customer complaint and/or rating that had been filed in total. So if GoldLine had a lawsuit on their hands, not to mention over 70 complaints in over 3 years on their BBB page, why wasn’t their enough information to rate their company? The obvious skepticism lead Peter to dig through numerous gold and silver companies that he knew were running scams, and wasn’t at all surprised by now to find that their ratings were not as poor as his.

His conclusion: BBB is taking payment for the rating listings, and GoldLine was keeping their rightfully smeared image under wraps.

Although we’ve listed in previous posts to double check a precious metal company’s ratings on various websites, we can now say that the Better Business Bureau lacks the integrity to provide accurate information for your buying experience. Have no fear, there are plenty of other ways to find out if the company you are working with is up to no good. Read Peter Schiff’s Gold Scam Report, and keep following our blog to stay up on the latest gold scams around the world.

Happy buying!

-Megan

Gold Scams Are Voted the #1 Scam for British Colombia for 2012

It’s not just the U.S. that is plagued with the cheesy gold-buying commercials and ridiculously priced gold coins. Canada also deals with their fair share of gold scams. With a very sizable gold investment conference around the corner in Vancouver, BC, it’s important that BC’s Better Business Bureau has created a Top 10 Scam List for 2012. And surprise, surprise…guess what made the top of the list? Gold scams.

As a con artist, you’ve come along way to take the cake in a contest that most businesses would like to come in last place for. Since gold’s stellar performance over the past couple of decades, criminal activity within the business is moving relatively higher. A correlation no one can ignore. With big money, comes the bigger scams.

The Better Business Bureau in British Colombia is doing our job for us in Canada. (more to come in a follow up post about the BBB in the States) They’ve voted Gold Scams as the number one scam to be aware of in 2012. Their suggestions to keep investors safe range from buying locally and finding an appraiser to see your gold/silver before you sell it physically. Run a search through your local BBB and they’ll feed you some good tips, but they also keep a running database, well they should, of past complaints and red flags on businesses in your area.

The BBB’s “Top 10” list gave quite a bit of competition, still gold came out on top:

-Penny Auctions
-Locksmith Fraud (eek!)
-Brand Spoofing
-Virus-Fixing Scheme
-Advance Fee Loans
-Power-Saving Claims

Looks like our friends in BC that have read Peter Schiff’s Gold Scam Report won’t have anything to worry about in the New Year. These trends are similar in the States with record numbers of scams happening everywhere. Your investing should be taken care of by people who understand your passion and goals as an investor, not a pushy salesperson calling from a musty boiler room. Avoid the scams by joining us to hear the latest.

Happy Buying,

Megan

Bait and Switch 101

When you first venture out to purchase your gold or silver the choices will be plentiful and so will the advice. You’ll face the options like: squares or circles, shiny or dull, and government issued or good ol’ minted bullion. It can become overwhelming and even confusing deciding whether junk or .999 rounds are the best choice for you. However, one of the best things you can do before making that kind of decision is consulting with experts…and/or someone you trust.

When I first decided that I should be investing in precious metals, the motivation came from my readings on the Federal Reserve Bank and the inflation that was taking place in the US and abroad. I had always thought it was silly to keep money in a bank account when the interest I was accruing wasn’t working fast enough to combat the decline of the dollar’s purchasing power. Thus, I turned to what seemed like a trustworthy investment: precious metals (namely silver, because I didn’t have $500K to throw around). It was then I realized, I need to start educating myself. I hope this was a thought that crossed your mind as well.

Some sound money evangelists were on my radar from my research of the Federal Reserve: Ron Paul, Peter Schiff, Murray Rothbard, and Tom Woods to name a few. Their knowledge quickly lead me through a network of VERY intelligent and well-spoken individuals on the subject. So fear not! The resources are endless. You have no excuse to go into a precious metals purchase blindly.

However, no matter how informed you are, this may not prevent to-good-to-be-true offers that make you salivate at their site. As explained in Peter Schiff’s latest report (that you can download in the top right hand corner of the page) the bait and switch sales model is still alive and well even after numerous attempts to legislate the fraudulent tactic.

In my personal experience bullion and junk have been the safest purchases I have made in physical metal. I’m in no place to share my investment advice with you, but after listening to the experts and reading extensively on gold and silver bullion it lead me on a hunt to find the right dealer. The bait and switch tactic is something you’ll come across as you are shopping for dealers. As stated in Schiff’s Gold Scam Report, “most dealers’ goal is to get you on the phone.” So if you see a deal for a gold coin for $29.95, chances are it IS too good to be true. Many bullion dealers will bait you with the low price in hopes to switch you onto a higher priced item of lower value. Many times this item is a numismatic coin (rare coin) and/or a commemorative coin issued by the US Government.

If you’re looking to INVEST your money, numismatics can be disastrous to your ROI. The scam-dealers may attempt to feed you information about government confiscation, high returns, and other fallacies you’ll find while reading through the Gold Scam Report, however when it comes down to it: bullion outperforms numismatics every time.

So heed this information. This is one of the many lessons you will learn by following us here at Gold Scams. Don’t be too proud to read up on the latest tactics used by scammers, while also learning about the culture and ways to invest! Subscribe today!