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