In a perfect world, no one would ever have to worry about getting scammed. Everyone would do the right thing and scams wouldn’t exist. But we unfortunately do not live in a perfect world. And even worse, there are unscrupulous individuals looking to scam you out of your hard-earned money.
As a person focused on improving their retirement, you need to particularly pay close attention to this information. You do not want to end up being scammed out of your retirement future. You will end up devastated if you aren’t careful, and you’ll have to work for the rest of your life.
Is that what you want? Absolutely not!
Instead of remaining vulnerable to gold IRA scams, I ask you to pay attention to the information shared today. This invaluable info will help you navigate the gold IRA landscape. And it will guarantee that you’re prepared to avoid the most common and popular scams in this industry.
Are you ready to discover the truth? Keep reading to find out how to avoid gold IRA scams by learning about the most common ones being perpetrated.
Gold IRA Scam #1: Avoiding the Bait and Switch Scam
it’s unfortunate, but many shady gold dealers in this industry have a bad reputation. And the reason they have a bad reputation is because they do bad things.
Take the bait and switch scam as an example.
In this scam, a gold dealer will put out an advertisement about selling extremely low-priced gold bullion, silver bullion, and other bullion options.
This seems great, right? It really grabs your attention and makes you want to learn more. Because everyone wants to get a great deal to earn more money from their investments.
But that isn’t what happens when devious gold brokers prey on your vulnerabilities and greed.
So, here’s what happens…
The unscrupulous gold dealer now has your personal information because you signed up to learn about their “exciting” deal.
From here, things get very frustrating and really annoying.
They have their sales team call and badger you to death to buy precious metals from their company. But their sales staff isn’t stupid. They’ve been trained properly. And they are going to avoid offering you the low advertised bullion price every step of the way.
And if you ask about it, they will avoid the topic somehow or some way.
Do you know what else they’ll do?
They’ll tell you about their premium products and push them hard to get you to pay highly marked up prices.
For the most part, they will attempt to sell pre-1933 gold coins, fancy bullion, and numismatic coins and things like that.
These coins do not necessarily possess any rarer or special value. But the sales staff is trained to make you believe that they do. They are trained to make you believe that these coins are something special.
These are laughable sales tactics, yet they are extremely effective. And these tactics have knowingly fleeced members of the public out of their hard-earned money and their retirement savings.
Avoid deals that seem too good to be true. Because on the other end of the telephone, you’ll end up talking with a pushy unscrupulous salesperson trying to steal your hard-earned money.
Gold IRA Scam #2: The Confiscation Scare Tactic
Here’s the next scam that you have to look out for…
It’s called the confiscation scare tactic for good reason.
Some evil gold dealers will attempt to mention the 1933 Executive Order from President Roosevelt. Have you ever heard of it?
In this Executive Order, President Roosevelt confiscated the gold from US citizens during the Great Depression.
It doesn’t really matter why this happened. What matters is that this type of fear tactic leads to the dealer attempting to sell you proofs or numismatics. These bottom feeding gold dealers stay in business by selling these gold investments at highly marked up prices.
In the Executive Order from President Roosevelt, he prohibited citizens from privately owning gold in the US. The citizens of the United States were forced to hand over gold bullion to the Federal Reserve. If they didn’t, they could spend 10 years in prison or pay a $10,000 fine.
Scary, right?
There was an exemption in this Executive Order that allowed you to keep your gold.
The exemption includes, “gold coins having a recognized special value to collectors of rare and unusual coins.”
Guess what? Proofs or numismatic coins do not possess any special value. They are regular bullion coins and nothing more. The government at the time technically could confiscate them from you.
But here’s the other thing…
In this day and age, no one from the government is going to attempt to confiscate your gold investments. In fact, the IRS legally allows citizens to open a gold IRA. They set the terms of the investment. So, there’s no reason to think they’re going to confiscate all your gold now after creating this investment strategy.
Based on research, I learned that only 25% of the gold was actually turned into the Federal Reserve in 1933. This gold was melted into a 22-karat bar and moved to Fort Knox. The Federal Reserve used it to back the US dollar to keep it viable.
Do not fall for this scam.
As a matter of fact, you should learn about the top 10 gold dealers operating in the US. Each one of these companies has an impeccable reputation. Please learn more about them by checking out my detailed review.
Gold IRA Scam #3: Steer Clear of the Fancy Bullion Hoax
This next scam is another dreaded tactic used by shady gold dealers. They spout this madness all across the country and around the world for that matter. But we’re technically only focused on what happens in the US here and now.
Here’s the meat and potatoes of the scam…
First off, the gold dealer will contact the mint in the US. Or, they will contact other mints that sell gold IRA approved coins.
Guess what happens next? After contacting the mint, they ask them whether or not they have any particular coins that they will stop minting in the near future.
Do you see where this is going? Don’t worry if you haven’t caught on to the scam yet, because most people haven’t at this point.
To put it in an example, let’s say the US mint decided to strike a honey badger 1 ounce coin. This is a completely made-up gold coin by the way. Unfortunately, the demand for the honey badger 1 ounce gold coin is very low.
Guess what happens next? The US mint has 10,000 coins left in stock. They decide that they are no longer going to mint this unwanted coin. So, they are going to sell the last of the 10,000 coins and move on.
Shady gold dealers believe that this is the opportunity of a lifetime. They will gobble up these 1-ounce honey badger coins made of gold. And they will market them as a valuable commodity that’s completely rare.
Even better…
Because these gold honey badger 1-ounce coins are no longer being minted, they will turn them into a rare collectible.
Are they really a collectible? Nope. In fact, we learned that the US mint stopped minting them because nobody wanted them.
You have to be wary of unscrupulous marketing tactics from shifty gold dealers. They will do everything in their power to convince you to buy things that aren’t that valuable.
On the flipside…
There are many incredible gold dealers that really care about their customers. They do everything in their power to provide a great experience. They go out of their way to make sure their customers are happy, satisfied, and set up with the proper gold investment.
I don’t know about you, but I only do business with companies that I can trust. I only work with gold dealers that I know have my best interest at heart.
When I first opened my gold IRA, I was desperately trying to avoid a gold IRA scam. That’s why I know so much about all of the top gold dealers doing business right now.
Learn from my knowledge and understanding as soon as possible. Read my review of the top 10 gold dealers in the gold IRA space. Find out about the best companies and learn why they have such excellent reputations. Click here to read my detailed review.
Bottom Line
As you can see, the gold industry is unfortunately riddled with shady dealers looking to pawn off average investments as rare and valuable collectibles.
These investments are worth their weight in gold, but they aren’t worth the high price premiums tacked on by the dealer.
Do not get caught up falling for these scams. You’ll end up spending thousands or tens of thousands of dollars more than they are worth.
Pay attention to the three scams that I shared above and learn about them. This will help you avoid paying top dollar for ordinary gold coins and other investments.
While you’re at it, learn about the best gold dealers in the industry right now. I’ve reviewed the top 10 gold dealers and share this valuable information with my readers. Click here to find out more.