Fake gold bars: the warning signs and what testing finds

A price far below spot is the first warning

Gold trades on a world market, and every honest seller starts from the same spot price. A dealer then adds a premium to cover refining, minting, shipping and the cost of running a shop, so a genuine bar costs somewhat more than the gold inside it. Someone holding a real bar has little reason to let it go well under spot, because a dealer would pay them a price tied to that same market.

So when a stranger online offers a 100 g bar at a price that looks like a gift, treat it as the biggest red flag on this list. The usual stories are an urgent move overseas, an inheritance, a business that needs cash by Friday. The story changes. The maths does not.

Before you weigh up any offer, check the live spot price yourself. Ours is on our market page and moves through the day, so you have a fair reference point in a few seconds.

Unknown refiners and bars with no paper trail

Genuine investment bars come from established refiners. The ones we carry are PAMP, Argor-Heraeus, Perth Mint, Royal Canadian Mint, Metalor, Heraeus, JBR, Valcambi and Nadir Metal Rafineri. Many well-known refiners appear on the LBMA Good Delivery list, the London market's list of refiners whose large bars it accepts. If you cannot find a refiner's name anywhere except the seller's own listing, be very careful.

Counterfeiters copy famous names too, so a familiar logo proves nothing by itself. A minted bar from a major refiner usually comes sealed in an assay card, with a serial number that matches the one stamped on the bar. A mismatched number, a card that looks as if it has been opened and resealed, or a missing number where that refiner always prints one: any of these is a reason to stop.

Ask the seller for the original invoice. A genuine owner can normally tell you where and when they bought the bar, and that paperwork also makes life easier when the bar is eventually sold on.

Printing, edges and packaging: what fakes often get wrong

Big refiners stamp and print to very tight tolerances. Counterfeiters save money on the details, and under a good light or a cheap loupe you can often see where.

Put the bar next to clear photos from the refiner's own website, not the seller's pictures. Designs do change over the years, so an older bar may differ slightly from the current version, but these are the things that should catch your eye.

• Lettering that is slightly the wrong shape, weight or spacing compared with the refiner's design
• Purity written oddly, such as a misspelt word or a fineness figure the refiner does not use
• Shallow or blurry stamping, with a design that looks soft around the edges
• An assay card with poor print, spelling mistakes, or a hologram that does not change as you tilt it
• Rough or uneven edges on a minted bar that should be crisp
• Colour that is too yellow, too orange or patchy, which can point to plating

Wrong weight or wrong size

Every genuine bar has a stated weight, and refiners publish their dimensions. A 1 troy ounce bar should read 31.1 g on an accurate scale, a 100 g bar 100 g, and a 1 kg bar 1,000 g, which is about 32.15 troy ounces. For smaller bars, a pocket jewellery scale is enough for a first check.

Weight alone will not settle it. A fake can be built to the right weight by changing its shape, so measure length, width and thickness as well and compare them with the refiner's specification. If a bar weighs correctly but is noticeably thicker or bigger than it should be, that is a warning sign: a lighter metal needs more volume to reach the same weight.

Tungsten-filled bars and why they are hard to spot

Tungsten is the counterfeiter's favourite for bigger bars. Its density is very close to gold's, roughly 19.25 grams per cubic centimetre against about 19.3 for gold, so a tungsten core wrapped in real gold can match a genuine bar on both weight and size. It also costs a small fraction of the price of gold.

This is why such a bar can pass a scratch test, an acid test, even a quick surface reading. The gold on the outside is real. The problem sits underneath, and a scale and ruler will not find it.

Filled bars are most often reported among larger bars, where there is enough metal to make the effort worthwhile. It is one reason we test what comes through our doors instead of judging by looks.

Sellers with no address, no registration and no way to find them later

A bar is only as trustworthy as whoever sold it to you. Bullion offered through social media accounts, marketplace listings and chat groups often comes with no shop, no company name and no way of reaching the seller once you have paid. If something is wrong, there is nobody to go back to.

In Singapore, dealers in precious metals must register with the Ministry of Law under the PSPM Act. A registered dealer has a registration number and a business address, and has to keep records of its transactions. Ours is PS20260001016, shown on our About page and in the footer of every page. If you are unsure about a dealer, ask for their number and check it with the Ministry of Law.

A few habits help. Ask for a company name and address, and ask where the stock comes from. Be wary of anyone who wants money sent to a personal account before you have seen the bar, or who will not let you inspect it in person.

What testing finds that your eyes cannot

Every piece we sell is tested first. Anything you bring in to sell to us is tested at the counter too, before the final amount is set. We use a Precious Metal Verifier, which measures how the metal conducts electricity and reads below the surface, so it can flag metal that is not what the bar claims to be. We also use XRF, which shows the composition of the metal at the surface. PAMP bars get a Veriscan check as well, PAMP's own system for verifying its bars.

Together these catch plated bars, low-purity bars and filled bars that would pass a casual look. None of them damage the metal, so a genuine piece leaves our counter exactly as it arrived.

If you already own a bar and something about it bothers you, walk in during opening hours: Monday to Saturday 12pm to 8pm, Sunday 2pm to 8pm. No appointment needed.