5+ Ways to Spot a FAKE vs REAL Gold Bar (PAMP Edition) 

nightmare: unknown fake gold worst nightmare: knowing your gold is fake after 20 years of stacking.

Moral of the story. Don’t buy gold off eBay

Excellent video!!!! I learn alot about gold thank you!!!! I Enjoyed learning from your videos thank you for making them it is greatly appreciated!!!

Awesome. Thank you for the info. I appreciate it. I’m going to buy the first machine. That’s pretty good.

Seems that the thickness is one of the fastest and most visual ways to tell.

Excellent work!

Basic density tests combined wit XRF and Eddy Current and ultrasonic conductance tests will differentiate real vs fake. You can use XRF and eddy current tests right through the package. Eddy current is especially good since tungsten alloys are extremely resistive and gold is very conductive. A heavy plating will defeat XRF though.

That's just great. I can see this becoming a bigger and bigger problem, too.

Thanks for your sharing.❤

In ancient times the king sought out Archimedes to determine if the crown was lead or gold. He put the crown in water to determine volume and used density and mass. This is an old problem getting ripped off.

I use JM bullion. Their customer service is fantastic. They do charge a little higher premium than some others. But, I’ve never had an issue with a fake product.

A cheaper authenticity verification tool would be a caliper and an Ultrasonic Thickness Meter. Measure the physical dimensions with the caliper and then verify that with the UTM readings set to measure Ag, Au , Pd, Pt or any metals. It's very useful for big bars and thin coins. Best to probe at many different spots on the SIDES, to look for foreign base metals ie Tungsten/lead. If it's fakes such as in video, it would flag it out in seconds. I think an UTM is the best verification tool as it measures the full depth of the metal, checking for fake metal inserts.

After discovering I bought 4 fake gold bars I invested in a Sigma Metalystics precious metal verifier. I use it every time I buy gold or silver. And I've figured out what to do with the fake stuff... Make a "bait safe". Once installed if I get broken into they can find that safe, break it open and steal the fake stuff.

VERY NICE VIDEO MY FRIEND!!! lots of good info on here. Gotta watch out for coun terfeit and fake gold bars. best thing is XRAY test like you got

Thank you for the information.

Informative

Thanks for the video very interesting.

Great info.

Love it. Tq so much .

i'm interested in the gold screen box but i cannot find it on the website. Are they still offered? I live in the US.

Also just to mention if you buy gold buy from a reputable company/dealer. This also will insure you are not scammed.

I only purchase my Gold in person from a reputable dealer and never ever online. For me its just not worth the risk.

Wow thanks for this!

Good intel. That gold tester is neat. Where did you say i can get one? Thanks

I appreciate this well done video. Thanks for saving me $ on my future purchases.

Hi where can I find the testing machines. Are they portable? Please share machine names specs

Does the same go for silver? I assume if you buy from a reputable mint or bank that a cert should accompany? When selling, I also assume you don't allow buyer to take it out back of shop..ie not allow out of your sight?

Wasn't thinking about buying a gold bar but its good to know.

Very very educated video, could you inform us more detail related to the 2 tools that you use to know the quality of the gold without open the certicard package? Thank you.

It also looks like the size of the image stamped onto the bar differs as well since one gets closer to the perimeter than the other.

Take note! The fake bar on the left on backside at the very bottom says " Certificate Assayer" where as the real one says "Certified Assayer". The signatures on the fake isn't the same either but that signature I seen it on the 100g bar so not sure.

Is there a silver stream box for checking silver coins bars etc

Only buy from a reputable dealer.. Very simple advice... And common sense

I bought 8 oz for 1680 an once and when gold hit 2000 last summer I sold 4 back to the same local coin shop I purchased them from. I made the profit and a few days later they called me and said 2 of them were fake. I had the receipt with pictures of the day I purchased them. The employee who bought them back basically threatened me physically and I made a deal with her to return the profit but not the principal I paid for the bars. Now I have 4 more bars that are questionable and lost a long time relationship with my local coin shop...what can I do

Very nice

I focused on the thickness of the bar and I spotted right on that 2 bars were fake as you showed :D nevertheless thanks for good tips

Every little bit of info helps.

Great content. New subscriber

Biggest tell is the design of the figure on the fake bar. It's different from the one on the real bar. You can tell by comparing the figure on the fake bar to the figure on its own packaging, which still has the design of the real bar.

Can you put a link to where to buy that smaller tester? Please and thank you

And that's the reason I've switched to coins. There's so many non destructive ways to test them (not being in card etc.) that making a fake coin pass all tests the only way to make it is to make a 100% replica - which for bullion is nowhere near as bad as a non precious coin - neither is very common either as there's no business in it for counterfeiters although in history there has been states copying bullion coins in order to sell their embargoed gold. Tungsten Krugerrand you say! Well... It can't even pass the ping test so while weight and diameter can certainly be correct it's easily identified as fake. There's one benefit over bars though and that is most of them have serial numbers where as coins do not. Whether you like that or not is ofcourse dependent on personal belief as well as where in the world you are as some countries have bad tendencies. Here round "bars" or just serialized coins could be a nice if such is made - I mean even banknotes have serial numbers. Also in the case of theft the stolen goods is easily registered in the theft register - nobody looks up unserialized coins - nor does it seldom give meaningful results. Sur metal can be melted but it's something you need to get the equipment for and if selling much melted presious metals then you might as well attract unwanted attention.

Where do I buy the hand held tool he used. I can't find it on the web site he said it was on. The bigger machines are extremely expensive BUT, so us buying fake gold and stacking it for years. That tool looks to be almost a "Must have" item if you want to buy gold online. I'm still new to all this, so I'm very open to suggestions if there's a better tool that likes the tool he used in the video but a little cheaper. Thank you for this video btw. Very informative 🤘😎✌️

I want to buy a thorough one time machine to check on small and big bars any suggestions?

Excellence I would have never known

Any idea about gold coins sold at MMTC PAMP?..Pl advice

Thank you for this video! I've ALWAYS wanted some PAMP gold bars since I saw them on Ebay, but I didn't want to chance it being a fake. With that said, I'll got to a reputable dealer so that I KNOW it's real!

I have 2 1oz credit suisse and dimensions are different? Is one of them fake?

nice material, thanks; but what is the approx cost of those testers?

I'm a bit confused. How does this help you when buying via internet shopping, or did I miss the point somewhere?

Also on the package the dot after lamp is larger the the dot on the real bar also the D on the signature on back is different

Where did you get the small Gold Screen Box??

can you tell me how much price for this machine usa dollar?

Can I please ask about the app is it free or not on store ?

Which website do you recommend to buy real gold?

Only the app is for Apple store? Will you have one for android?

I noticed something on the printing that also was different to the real packaging. The ® symbol (registered) was in a thicker font on the fakes.

There is a magnet test that will work on these bars. Many people don’t know this but gold is diamagnet. This means it interacts with magnetic fields in the exact opposite way to common ferromagnetic materials. Both the north and the south poles of the magnet will REPEL real gold. The effect is very weak though so care must be taken if you want to observe it. Hang the gold from a long string and then slowly bring the magnet to it. You will see the gold is noticeably pushed away by a very tiny but noticeable amount.

May I know what the different between PAMP suisse lady fortuna gold bar and PAMP suisse gold cast bar? Why their price is different?

does the machines work on jewelries too ??

thank you sir

Hi Rich Could I buy from you as I live in Scotland?

link to purchase the gold tester? Ship to Canada?

where can I purchase the gold screen box tester? Thx!!!

Супер информация для Коллекционеров ,нумизматов.

Ebay is absolutely full of these, it's also full of fake Silver Bars. You would think they would get a grip of it.

They’d work great in a decoy safe tho!

Oh crap. I just sold my house for 20 gold bars. Dang it. Third time I've done it.

Even the crown looks different I mean if you know what your buying the thickness and the crown are 2 obvious ways to spot and scratches

How do you write shapes and text?

Thank you i did not know that.🤔

I just watched a fake 1oz Perth Mint gold bar being sold on the German ebay. It was clearly recognizable because the vendor had posted photos that showed the thickness of the bar. I tried to warn ebay via community forum, they told me to look at it but they didnt do anything and the bar sold for about 2000€. The private vendor had even put in a somewhat hidden disclaimer that he did not know if the bar was genuine. I guess the buyers never read the whole ad text. In a way it serves them right but I cant understand ebays policy here.

There's more fine details on the fake bar, which seems really strange to me- maybe so that the assumption that the detailed one must be the real one traps more people

I understand counterfeiters will use tungsten as a core then put a coating of pure gold around the core - the weight of tungsten is very close to gold - will machines detect this?

Excellent video but I’d only buy form a well known bullion dealer who has a reputation to protect and a track history. I buy nothing off eBay not even a mop

Reminds me of when I became an expert on counterfeit Montblanc pens after I got ripped off.

Well, that was a very instructive video. Kind of turns me off the idea of buying gold. 😁😅

What about weighing the bar and the displaced water; it worked for Archimedes.

XRF (X-ray fluorescence) is an excellent tool as it does elemental analysis telling you exactly what the imposition is. at least on or near the surface. From what I've seen the equipment is cost-prohibitive for the average person (In the $20,000 range) and the user / owner may need special licensing / certification as it is an X-ray (ionizing radiation) source. Checking dimensions to estimate density is a simple check but the counterfeiters will use tungsten which has the same density of gold to cheat this. The electrical testers (such as Metalytics) check the conductivity of the sample; these are much more affordable (several hundred dollars) and can measure deep into a sample.

It pays to buy your metals from reputable bullion companies. There are 3 here in the U.S. that I trust. I would never, ever buy precious metals from E-bay, or any other unknown site or from a dealer I have no knowledge of!

How to avoid these things when you're purchasing online though? Just ONLY buy from reputable dealers?

Nice man. I just scanned my 10 grams and it passed! Do I still need to take it to gold store to test it? Or the scanner is enough?

Groovy

I don't buy sealed gold bar any more. If I can't weigh it and test the dimensions, it stays on the shelf. The Chinese have become very good at making fake gold bars.

The plastic card of the fake is much more shine, the real card is in soft shine! I saw many fake cards for sale all over the internet but I see those differences in very little details at once.

Also, the Lady on the fake bar had a complete different profile. That was the first thing I noticed.

A little bit surprised you didn't advise weighing the bar, often but not always they get the weight wrong.

ive got a lot of melted gold jewellery. likely (hopefully) all 9ct. maybe 90 grams or so. you would be able to tell me from your fancy machine the carat wouldnt you? Im also in Auckland

so when I scan the qr code and it says "digital certificate not available, paper version only" does that mean it's fake?

Buy from a reputable dealer instead of someone on eBay. Would you buy a Rolex from someone in a railway station? Here's a common line they use: "I have to get to XYZ, but I lost my wallet. But I have this Rolex and it's worth $2,000. But I'm desperate so you can have it for $500 cash. It's a bargain....". Turned out to be worth $50.

Can you do please Degussa Edition Fake Vs. Real?

U can tell right away but how close the lady is to the outer edges of the bar she way closer to the edge then the real bar the real bar has some space and the numbers and letters are way more bulky and with the real one there more refined and perfect same thing with the trademark sign it’s smaller on the real one as well

Excellent video. Music was distracting though.

Where to Buy?

Does Apmex sell genuine Pamp bars?

If you buy these bars online finding out that they are fake after you receive them isn't going to help you much really, you can't exactly return them or complain, the scammers obviously have everything set up so that finding them is pretty difficult.

The mural on left is larger.

I have 1 piece of gold weighing 999 do you know how to sell it

It's very hard to tell from a photo as that only show back and front you can't tell the thickness of the bar

VERISCAN 👏👏👏

I want to buy a fake same bar tell me where i can get one same copy