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One Ton Gold Shipment Into Hong Kong Revealed To Contain Just Worthless Metal
Two years ago, stories of fake tungsten-filled gold coins and bars began to spread; it appears, between the shortage of physical gold (after Asian central bank buying) and the increase in smuggling (courtesy of India's controls among others) that gold fraud is back on the rise. As SCMP reports, a mainland China businessman, Zhao Jingjun, discovered that HK$270 million of 998kg of gold bars he bought in Ghana had been swapped for non-precious metal bars. What is perhaps even more worrisome, given the probe into commodity-financing deals and the rehypothecation evaporation; these gold bars were shipped to a Chinese warehouse before Zhao was able to confirm the fraud.
As South China Morning Post reports, police were last night making arrangements with a mainland businessman to check whether HK$270 million of gold bullion he bought in Africa was genuine after part of the consignment was swapped with metal bars.
On Wednesday, Zhao Jingjun, 43, opened part of his shipment in front of his buyer in Hong Kong and discovered the gold had been switched for worthless metal.
A senior officer said it would be the city's biggest heist in a decade if it was confirmed that all the gold had been stolen.
An initial inquiry showed Zhao purchased 998kg of gold bars from a company in Ghana in mid-April, police said.
The consignment, in 14 cases, was escorted by his staff and delivered from Ghana on a chartered flight late last month.
"Officers were told that his employee confirmed the cases contained the gold before it was loaded onto the chartered flight in Ghana," a police source said.
The source said the employee left Hong Kong after the consignment was handed to the staff of a logistics company at Chek Lap Kok airport. It was then couriered to a Tsuen Wan warehouse.
The businessman arrived from Hebei province on Monday and checked into the Kowloon Shangri-La hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. On Wednesday, he had five of the cases couriered to his buyer's Hung Hom office.
"When he opened the boxes, he found they were filled with metal bars instead of gold bullion," the source said. "He told officers the cases appeared to have been tampered with."
...
A police investigator said: "We don't rule out the possibility that the gold bullion may have been switched for metal bars before being delivered to Hong Kong."
Zhao has reportedly made several such transactions. His business activities include the purchase of iron ore from Australia, Africa and South America.
Four years ago, 265 gold bars were taken from a Yuen Long company. Police arrested three men and recovered most of the HK$90 million in bullion stolen.
We can't help but feel this is not the last time as commodity-backed financings are unwound en masse and the underlying collateral found missing... sourcing the underlying by any means will be on the rise.
* * *
For those who want to learn more about China and gold, please read "How China Imported A Record $70 Billion In Physical Gold Without Sending The Price Of Gold Soaring"
For those curious what a fake 10oz bar looks like, here it is again:
It appears in thise case, the fraudsters could not even afford Tungsten (or maybe the Tungsten was rehypothecated elsewhere)...
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SHOW me DA GOLD!.. http://hedgeaccording.ly/2012/06/weekly-gold-look.html
Ho li fuc
Someone please advise our Zero Hedge community immediately if/when they ever find 1 oz fake Gold Eagles...
Maybe that's where all the copper and aluminum went!
@DoChenRollingBearing: It's not a US coin, but you should see this, since it's a 1/10 oz -- I would have thought it would not pay to rip off a small-denom:
http://fofoa.blogspot.com/2013/12/public-service-announcement.html
ha!
When buying large quantities of gold, I always go to Africa where the low prices are practically a steal.
Even more barbarous than the real stuff!
@rehypothecator:
*steel
I make that typo too. ;-)
Caveat Emptor
Someone was on risk for insurance.
Can you say Jewish stocktake in Chinese.
Can't do that but I can tell you that the tribe will never share the golden calf. This Chinese shmo actually thought he could by himself 1 ton of precious with his fake fiat Mao paper!
I would suggest you go to your gold bars and cut them in half to make sure there is nothing worthless inside covered by the gold. Also nothing wrong with melting that stuff down to make sure its real gold.
Also never trust anyone with our gold. He should of been with those precious babies from inceptions to final destination in his safe.
Don't get rehypothecated like the gold bugs did!
Buy your Bitcoins today!!
PM's update from Turd Ferguson. A good read and some great analysis too. Bottom line: Save your dry powder for PM's until the end of June as we could be goin' lower, folks. Then back the fucking truck up!!!
Clarifying The Picture For June
http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/blog/5811/clarifying-picture-june
#TurdArmy
It's because of articles like this that I buy US dollars and keep them in my wallet. Unlike gold and silver that can be lost when dumped in a lake, my US dollars dry out nicely after getting wet. My wealth is instantly preserved. So serves all you goldbugz right. /s
+ $55,000 !!
No one's done it yet, so I might as well and get it out of the way:
SUM TING WONG!!!!!!!
(Elvis voice: "Thank you, thank you very much, thank you...")
:)
i like how the ghana scammers put a dragon on the back, nice touch.
Dragon?
Its not worthless. Tungsten's going for $400 ton...
I sense an analogy to the USSA nowadays.
Shocking
another reason why gold will be a hard sell when nobody trusts anyone, which will be upon us soon. fuck gold...
gold is a false paridim of wealth, luring in fools that have a false value of wealth. wealth comes from inside your mind(value and virtue), not a vault or the bottom of a lake...
haha...
Buy your Bitcoins today!!
A comparison of cut open real and fake bitcoins reveal both are nothing but air.
i'm long hookers and coke.
real gold dissapears in planes
It had to be done.
Gosh.
I guess I'm pretty lucky; the ones I bought from that Nigerian were 100% genuine.
He told me so.
Bitcoin will be $55,000 before gold.
Either or both reaching $55,000 is OK with me.
I like NXT as well as BTC.
Right now it is $.08 and will double double every month for awhile until it hits $10.00 or so.
Crap.. I was just starting to get a decent grip on the whole Bitcoin approach.. and now a whole new angle?
I went to http://www.nxtcommunity.org/ lots of nice bullet points, but where is a good overview of the architecture and process/flow?
Enjoy The Fed stealing your money out of your wallet without even touching it. LOL They are doing it every day.
The Federal Reserve's Explicit Goal: Devalue The Dollar 33% This is a Forbes article not some nut job conspiracy. They are doing this.So what does this have to do with that missing Malaysian airliner?
Two tonnes of au on board is one hell of an incentive to make it disappear...
Thurston Howell III was probably thinking similar when he took chest full of cash on the Minnow.
Being stuck on a tropical island with Mary Ann and Ginger would be a decent motivator, too.
Exactly! nope. Fake gold has nothing on the rest of us; we have fake dollars!
We enjoy Turd, but prefer his brother, Coprolite Ferguson, because Copi believes, as do we, that silver is going to catch gold and perhaps even lap it.
Just like a few months ago, and in 2013, & 2012, & 2011, and......
I seem to have heard this before.
Tungsten-filled gold bars are almost as worthless as those trillion $ bearer bonds found in Italy and almost as silly as QE.
ah well, worthless if you can't get anyone to cash 'em .... if you thought those were fishy ( pun intended) see linky below-
Man, that makes my stomach tighten up and it wasn't even my gold. What a crappy trick.
Jesus - that was a 10oz bar too. . .
Sum ting wong is also waiting for his payoff from that Nigerian email.
He could have run into Fuk King Yu on the Hong Kong end.
Stolen gold has now been delivered to notorious Chinese fence, Ray Ling
Or Wo Fat.
http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0039333/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t13
It's an Odd Job, but someone had to do it...
It's called M&M Gold after the candy. Nice golden yellow shell surrounding a chocolately colored metal.
I always go to Africa where the low prices are practically a steel
rehypothecator: "When buying large quantities of gold, I always go to Africa where the low prices are practically a steal."
Those BARBARICANS!
"Out of BARBARICA". Now a Broadway play, starring the usual actors, produced by TPTB.
Gold MUST BE and denigrated to the sheep, and what MUST be done WILL be done.
Therefore, to keep gold from entering the mainstream there WILL BE stories and examples of fake 1oz coins, Eagles and Maples, Etc.
This is something you can count on.
Most 'collectors' I know 1) buy from reputable dealers; 2) weigh and measure each item when received; 3) buy coins which are definitely harder to fake them bars; and 4) compare them with previous similar coins in their collections....
... of course they do all this Due Diligence before embarking on ones of those tragic boating accidents.
Buying US coins from American dealers. It is a serious federal offense to fake them. Seller beware.
The 'well-connected' are not bothered by serious federal offenses or US Justus.
Those pics remind me of opening the Willy Wonka bar and not finding a golden ticket!
You did not exchange fiat for gold and silver? You get nothing! You lose! Good day Sir!
idea_hamster
Thank you very much! I should have remembered FOFOA´s article.
I read the FOFOA article. I wouldn't go so far as to make a blanket condemnation of all slabbed coins as he does but you have to be careful purchasing from a seller you don't know.
IIRC the Chinese can make perfect copies of Morgan silver dollars. They bought the original presses and dies!
Stick to reputable dealers mainly here in the USA with many years of reputation. I agree with the above about DD also.
dcrb,
i haven't come across 1oz fake gold coins, but they are out there apparently.
this "very professional and serious company, specializing in manufacturing and selling gold-plated tungsten coin" can make them for you:
http://www.tungsten-alloy.com/gold-plated-tungsten-alloy-coin.html
Thanks! I emailed the link to myself.
My father had a laundromat long ago, he would find pennies filed down to the size of a dime in the dryers. He was adament about finding the culprit, ....and hire him because he worked so cheap.
i used to use copper quarters at the laundromat in the early 70's. wish i had some now
a size #7 brass washer with a little tape. courtesy of the late abbie 'steal this book' hoffman.
http://www.grattanfasteners.com/GrattanItem1.aspx?item=62212&Category=
It costs .31 cents to make a 25 cent slug now if buying a box of 100. :-\ ...Or if you buy 10 at this place they are .88 each.
http://www.nutty.com/716-BRASS-Flat-Washer_p_5991.html
You'd lose a fortune running a load with brass slugs. Well unless you scavenge around when taking stuff apart.
Or, you could buy $5.00 worth of fake plastic nickels for only $5.23:
http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-LER0096-Nickels-100/dp/B000QDZXI0/ref=pd_sim_t_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=0BK1PHJWFR6QTQ1VTT3W
Even better; buy $1.00 worth of fake plastic pennies for only $5.24:
http://www.amazon.com/Play-Money-Pennies-100-Plastic/dp/B000QDY2A0/ref=pd_sim_t_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=196P3HNRTHPM6B8C1JA1
Product Description
"Nothing beats our realistic-looking plastic pennies for teaching youngsters about money."
Yep, the kiddies just learned that they got ripped-off paying more for fake plastic pennies than the genuine article...
Physical gold prices will fall on this news.
Paper gold, which by definition cannot contain tunston and is backed by the most trustworthy instituions on earth will gain value to reflect the new reality.
Remember: If you hold your gold in your hand, you are at risk.
Thats what the teeeveee will say anyway
You can't get these good fakes anymore. The manufacturers can't put the border around them so they don't look good enough
I bought a gold coin and the damn thing had chocolate in it.
So,... you CAN eat gold!
I better check that Gold Toilet Seat I bought for my Dad. I always thought $138.00 was a little cheap for an entire "18k Solid Gold Toilet Seat" with free shipping all the way from Shenzen.
In your case, you can have your coin and eat it too.
But in my case, I can eat it and still have it.
Krug's also!
Do Chen-
Fake Tungsten 1oz Gold Eagles have arrived!
Be safe!
http://www.goldcoinbalance.com/http:/www.goldcoinbalance.com/fake-tungst...
Thanks! I`ll be watching...
And that's one other reason I'm in silver and other PG metals we've talked about. Osmium bitchez!! :)
My major concerns re longer-term values of Os and Ir are:
1) wide buy - sell spreads
2) valuation... they are very scarce metals with little application
But, as you get more info, email it to me and/or let`s do a joint article!
Shouldn't you expect that you are getting fake gold bars when you are buying them from Africa?
I guess this same guy is awaiting a $10 million cash transfer because he got an email from a Ghananian minister.
yeah, i don't think the 'swapped out real for fake' part ever happened. those gold bars were fake from the get-go. ...and not because it was in africa, but just because.
Do your normal size, weight measurements than the tip of the finger balancing act, ping test with a pencil. Not going to fake that, for now anyway.
.Dup
"Someone please advise our Zero Hedge community immediately if/when they ever find 1 oz fake Gold Eagles..."
http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/1oz-33-93g-Eagle-tungsten-gold_1313285652.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P1h6uXDACY
And here we go:
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Two-charged-with-selling-fake-coins-5542193.php#photo-6429872
And here we go:
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Two-charged-with-selling-fake-coins-5542193.php#photo-6429872
And here we go:
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Two-charged-with-selling-fake-coins-5542193.php#photo-6429872
Who the fuck would buy anything from Ghana???????? Much less "Swiss" gold bars..........
Use the proper channels. http://pmmcghana.com/foreignbuyers
Cmon Rusty. You know enough about Ghana to know that if this guy bought THAT much gold he bought it direct from a miner. It was a hatchet job pulled off by some clandestine thieves. We can all guess who, but there are only a few players in GHANA witht he intel to pull a switch like this so seamlessly. Getting rusty Rusty? ; )
Haha, right, the switch happens at the airport..
..edit - you're right, Swiss Gold in Ghana - LMAO
Somewhere in Ghana, Clapton is playing...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbwFXngs9Lw
I guess Germany will be getting another 998kg of its gold back in short order.
CIA accidentally found it in the unclaimed baggage area.
Mossad accidentally found it in the unclaimed baggage area.
Yep, large gold shipments are subject to seizure.
Just what you would expect from a gov't that doesn't have the gold it says it does, and claims gold's fair market price is roughly $1300 USD...
for those of you who are curious what 14 quadrillion dollars in fake gold looks like-
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zd2uA6VPYx0/U4yhCCRG8DI/AAAAAAAADIw/l2Goasy6ve...
Putaipan, how do you know this document is fake?
It's signed by Sultan Muhammad Esmail E. Kiram, who was the reigning Sultan of Sulu in 1954, and signed by Pope Pius XII, the resigning pope at the time.
Interesting the deposit is dated 10 March 1954, which was 12 days before the London Gold Market reopened on 22nd March 1954.
The "quattordici mila tonnellate (fourteen thousand tonnes) is staggering nonetheless.
"You say you deposited 14,000 tonnes of gold, we say you deposited 14,000 tonnes of gold, and everyone's happy."
if i said it was real it woulda been "off topic"......
they look like gold-foiled chocolate bars
Chinese business gentleman gets shafted, hard to belive or poetic justice, OR who got the squeeze?
Were it not for my inate good breeding I would have lost my cornflakes all over the keyboard!!!
My sincere thanks to both parties for starting my weekend with a good laugh!!
Must be the Fed's idea! Go ask Yellen, she knows how to create fake crap!
Don't buy gold in Harlem or Nigeria.
"Zhao Jingjun .. discovered the gold had been switched for worthless metal"
guess what Zhao?
gold itself is a worthless metal!
duh!
some shiny rock you dig up out of the freekin ground. with no intrinsic use. somehow, it just happened to become a fashionable item to wear and hoard.
hugs,
evelyn and friends
do yourself a favor and take out a loan.
Ba a a aa a a a a a - you forgot SARC/
Or signed ... US Govt / Federal Reserve
tough crowd here today
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Robert_de_Rothschild
The double edged sword of internet sarcasm. Wear the red arrows like a badge of honor, it happens to all of us who forget you can't roll your eyes in a comment.
gold is what they came here for. monatomic gold likely levitated the stones of the megaliths.
http://www.silverdoctors.com/jim-willie-bombshell-china-russia-have-accumulated-over-40000-tons-of-gold-reserves-for-usd-replacement/
MP3 Audio Interview w/ Jim Willie:
http://media.blubrry.com/silverdoctors/p/content.blubrry.com/silverdoctors/Jim_Willie_Bombshell_China_Russia.mp3
"Wear the red arrows..."
it's almost as if one needs some sort of Red Shields or something to protect oneself from all that arrowness
Ba dum dumph...Love your comments sg!
Didn't give any protection from the headhunters in Papua New Guinea
Hide that gold from the goldhunters, and they will check all pond and lake bottoms...
I like the ones that stick to your underwear.
Red Shields...Don't leave home without 'em.
Of course, I wear them backwards to prevent unsightly skids.
<rolls eyes> @ hobopants
shit. i can't even get more than three 'reds' to look a 15 quadrilion gold bearer bond ... in two days!
Green for that!
Why?
Or signed ... US Govt / Federal Reserve
and yours was a worthless comment
When a comment is signed, "hugs", it is the same as tagging it /sarcasm.
Lighten up. SG is on our side of the fence. He is a Gold Warrior.
here's a good experiment you can do to prove your theory:
get 5 $100 Federal Reserve Notes (dollar bills)
find someone with a worthless American Gold Eagle coin
offer them a trade - your 5 $100 FRNs for his worthless gold eagle
repeat this a 1000 times on a different person each time
I will bet you $500 that at the end of this experiment you are still holding your 5 $100 FRNs
But but but Mark Dice couldn't buy a taco with a gold eagle! Barbarous I tell you!
I ever run into Mr. Dice I'll bankrupt that fucker. Offer me gold for 50 bucks an oz? I might have a stroke!
In other news the Elite Fascists continue to hold a clearance sale on gold and silver; EVERYTHING MUST GO!..
Word up there dawg.....send Dice over here!
Keep 'em coins coming!
ill take that bet as you diddnt specify if fractional eagle. ill sell 1/4 oz all day long for $500 semp.
Locked in bet Ill take my $500 now THX.
-Da Serf
How about a fake eagle? So, since checking for fake gold is so easy and affordable, why didn't each person along the chain just check the gold to prove it was real before accepting it? I'm guessing the buyer is screwed, since he cannot prove who swapped the gold at what point.
Gold became so fashionable that Evelyn and freinds were lining up to pry it from the mouths of innocent people before they were murdered.
i'm not entirely sure about the before part (or, given ev's age, what historical incident you reference).
A.H. was Ev's family's spawn.
People's sense of value is weirdly distorted these days. For example, I can buy a brand new Lexus or BMW for the same money being asked for a 1970 Pontiac.
http://www.motortopia.com/cars/1970-pontiac-gto-judge-5783
I mean seriously, that car is almost 45 years old. WTF?
$75k is a bit stiff for a Judge considering you could buy one for $25k in 2009.
However, I would rather trade a stack of FED fiat notes for a 1970 GTO than a new Lexus / BMW. In 10 years which do you think will have held its value better?
Damn straight, and one helluva lot more fun to drive as well. Those cars actually have a personality.
As a bonus, if we ever do get a nasty EMP attack, guess which car will be roaming the streets?
I guess it's true, you really DO need the sarcasm tags around here.
Way back I had a '69 GTO with a 428, headers, Holly double-pumper, and a 4 speed. It was my first car. Bought it for the princely sum of $1,000.00.
That thing was tons of fun (till I blew the timing chain). Sure wish I still had that car. . .
Bullshit
All GTO engines were 400 cubes - perhaps someone swapped a big block Ford into your old goat ?
ronny and the daytonas beg to differ: three deuces and a fourspeed and a 389, (yiiiyine). 400 wasn't until '67 (which would cover the '69 in question) but i wouldn't want children listening here to get the wrong idea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_GTO
So are you really going to tell me what engine my car had asshole?
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_V8_engine
Proofreder - Pontiac indeed made a 428 big block engine. Some of them were actually swapped by dealers into GTOs. My guess (prayer really) is that mine was a backyard swap by a previous owner out of a Bonneville or something after they blew-up the original 400.
PS I bought the car in '84.
Oh, the friggin irony
"after part of the consignment was swapped with metal bars."
Wow! gold swapped for metal. Duh!!!
Gold is a metal, in case you didn't know.
Hahaha, the Chinese con artists got conned! Lemme guess, the Chinese 'business man' got an email that went something like this:
Dear Chinese Friend.
As you read this, I don't want you to feel sorry for me, because, I believe everyone will die someday.
My name is Peter Lawson,a merchant in Accra, in Ghana. I have been diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer which was discovered very late,due to my laxity in carrying for my health. It has defiled all forms of medicine, and right now I have only about a few months to live, according to medical experts.
I have not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for anyone not even myself but my business. Though I am very rich, I was never generous, I was always hostile to people and only focus on my business as that was the only thing I cared for. But now I regret all this as I now know that there is more to life than just wanting to have or make all the money in the world. I believe when God gives me a second chance to come to this world I would live my life a different way from how I have lived it.
Now that God ! has called me, I have willed and given most of my properties and assets to my immediate and extended family members and as well as a few close friends. I want God to be merciful to me and accept my soul and so, I have decided to give arms to charity organizations and give succour and confort to the less priviledged in our societies, as I want this to be one of the last good deeds I do on earth.
So far, I have distributed money to some charity organizations in the U.A.E, Algeria and Malaysia. Now that my health has deteriorated so badly, I cannot do this my self anymore. I once asked members of my family to close one of my accounts and distribute the money which I have there to charity organization and to the less priviledged in Bulgaria and Pakistan, they refused and kept the money to themselves. Hence, I do not trust them anymore, as they seem not to be contended with what I have left for them.
The last of my money which no one knows of is 998 tons of GOLD that I have with a Security Company in Ghana for safe keeping. I will want you to help me collect this deposit and disburse it to some charity organizations and to the less priviledged.
Please send me a mail to indicate if you will assist me in this disbursement.
I have set aside 10% for you for your time and patience.
You can e-mail me at:...
While I await to hear from you, may God be with you and your entire family.
Remain blessed.
///
And its Goooooone.....Those good deals go so FAST LOL
the Chinese 'business man' got an email that went something like this:
+10
LOL
Seems legit :)
It's going going gone. We are seeing the slow buildup of gold being fake and the real stuff GONE.
The Chinese buyer's real name is Big Dum Fuk.
Looks like somebody simply intends to defraud anybody daring to take delivery