Bountiful pawn shop owner warns about fake gold scams
BOUNTIFUL (KUTV) — Ryan DeVries just doesn't want people to get swindled.
"About six times in the last 30 days I've seen people come in and I've had to tell them, give them the bad news like no, this is all fake I'm sorry," he said.
The owner and operator of Bountiful Pawn, DeVries says the scam goes like this. You're approached outside a gas station or shopping center by someone who claims to be down on their luck.
DeVries said;
They give you a story that seems believable, maybe they're out of gas, or need food money, Christmas money.
But the person with no luck has plenty of gold, and they're eager to trade it.
"The last woman that came in, she brought in three pieces of jewelry. There was a heavy chain, a men's ring, and a bracelet, and she had given $300 to somebody who said they needed money for Christmas," he said.
DeVries put all jewelry through a couple of simple tests. The first -- a magnet.
"Gold doesn't have any magnetic properties. Gold ore is really dense," he said.
If a chain of some kind leaps from the table for a magnet, it's not precious at all.
Next, there's an acid test.
Non-gold materials will turn green and smoke when exposed to jewelry acid, DeVries said. Gold doesn't react at all.
Too often, DeVries is the bearer of the bad news. The last customer who fell victim to the scam didn't take it well.
"She about left in tears, her and her daughter, it was pretty sad," he said. "People are putting out a lot of money this time of year and getting swindled out of it is not a good feeling at all."
