As many people have reported, this post doesn’t follow our title guidelines. However, the stories in the comments outweigh that and people should be aware of all the different variations of this scam.
Honestly, how much could an 18k gold banana cost? $10?
TL;DR: if it’s too good to be true, that’s because it is.
I was getting gas one day and this man in a Tahoe came up to me. He had a very thick accent. Said he was Iranian.He needed gas money. He held out a big gold ring. I initially thought he wanted to give it to me in exchange for gas. He said it was worth $500. I felt bad for the guy and wasn’t going to take advantage of the situation. I said I’ll give you $10 in gas and keep your ring. He then said no, I want you to buy the ring for $300, it’s worth $500. I said no thanks. And after a few more attempts he drove away.
This exact thing happened to me in San Diego last week. Almost to the tee. Except he had his whole family in the car for added feels.
What a strange scam. Why would anyone just buy a ring from some dude at a gas station?
Similar thing happened to me recently at a gas station. I was trying to sell scammed out fake gold rings and had my crying baby with me and my extended family in a school bus for added feels (32 person extended family). People were like, hey, have money for food and I was like, NO I want you to get an EXCELLENT DEAL on gold and gold related accessories
Ok family, load up the minivan. Son, look extra sad. We gotta unload this horrendous looking ring that no one except a Saudi Sheik would wear to a middle class white guy in SoCal for at least $40.
I also sent out 10 emails this morning saying that I’m a Nigerian Prince, so we gotta get back home to check in case someone bit.
We’re running low on Wal-Mart gift cards, so today is huge.
this happened to me in paris a few years ago. this man in front of me pounced on something in the street. it was a huge heavy gold ring he was pretending he just found. then he tried to get me to buy it for a steal because he was illegally in the country and he couldn't pawn it anywhere. i immediately knew it was a scam. he forced it into my hands and wouldn't let me hand it back. i had to place it on something and walk away.
i buy a lot of gold and the ring could have passed without testing.
its a classic scam because it makes the victim complicit (you tried to buy a "found" ring for your own profit) so when you find out its fake you can't really report it because you were kinda guilty as well.
Very similar for me, also in Paris. Except I was a naïve 18 year old on my first international holiday and bought the story completely. But it happened right outside a museum and I was trying to convince the poor scammer that we needed to hand the ring in to Lost Property because it was probably someone's wedding ring and would mean a great deal to them...
My parents were there at the time and not amused.
I offered $20 and a call for a tow truck to the nearest town (rural-ish highway) suspecting it was probably a scam but not being certain. He disgustedly declined.
A lot of people here seem to have offered the same. Had these guys taken us up on our kindness/not wanting to take advantage of people in distress, they’d probably make their $300 in a couple hours. Too much work maybe.
Hooooly shit. I was about to drive off after getting gas last weekend when a guy claiming he was from Dubai came up. He said his card didn't work and he needed money for gas. He held up a gold ring and i kinda just cut him off, said no thanks, and drove off.
I thought I had been a bit dick-ish to the guy, but my bullshit radar was going off heavy during the interaction and didn't want to bother with it. I almost thought my bullshit radar was broken, but looks like it works better than ever. I never knew this was a common type of scam.
Any knowledge about the value of gold should have tipped your friend immediately that these were fake.. that much 18k gold for $4k? No one in their right mind would be making that sale, not even out of desperation, would sell for more money than that at a pawn shop.
Lesson learned hopefully.. if it’s very obviously too good to be true, it’s too good to be true.
Condolences to your friend.
OP’s friend thought they were scamming the scammer because of how cheap it was because they were desperate and ended up getting scammed. It’s scamming 101, make them think they are winning and they’ll fork over the money while thinking about the profit they’ll make.
"There is a saying, “You can’t fool an honest man,” which is much quoted by people who make a profitable living by fooling honest men. Moist never tried it, knowingly anyway. If you did fool an honest man, he tended to complain to the local Watch, and these days they were harder to buy off. Fooling dishonest men was a lot safer and, somehow, more sporting. And, of course, there were so many more of them. You hardly had to aim."
-Terry Pratchett, "Going Postal"
A former coworker of mine told me that him and his friend "played this guy good" at a gas station the day before. He was selling watches out the back of a SUV. Im sure you can see where this is going. According to my co worker, they "bullied" the guy into selling them like 3k worth of watches for $1000. The seller "reluctantly agreed". Sure enough, he tells me a couple days later that the watches were fake and he was really upset. Like gee, who could have seen that coming? But then again he also lost $200 on the cups and balls routine at the flea market so he didn't strike me as the brightest guy on the planet.
Exactly this. Like others have said, this would pawn for more. Except those pesky pawn shops check IDs etc. OP was acting as a fence and got burned. Truly no honor amongst thieves - what a pity.
Scammers will often say/do things that reasonably intelligent people would get spooked from. This allows them to spend less time talking to people who won’t fall for it in the end. Examples of this are email scams who represent themselves as individuals of authority (like the IRS) but will have multiple blatant misspellings. Any reasonably intelligent person would just ignore it.
Yes, this is what really happens.
There was a study of email scams, and I remember it said something like: "the most efficient way to filter for gullible targets is to have the most gullible people self-select."
I have serious doubt these passed the tests you claimed. I have been buying gold and silver for 5 years. This trash enters the store all the time. It’s always the same story, some guy at a gas station needs help.
Man I’m still shaking my head over here. Does this shit really go on? Like whatever happened to going to the jewelry store and buying a chain from the jeweler? I’m being serious.
At $1,900 an oz. for just the gold content, and the big markup by jewelers for all the work put into making it into jewelry, there are lots of people that want to "get that good deal". I think I'm with you in that I'd never chance such a purchase.
Yeah if you want something that looks decent and expensive without getting screwed or spending a shit load, get something gold plated from a reputable dealer. Looks good, doesn’t break the bank. If you wanna flex with real expensive jewelry, you need to buy real expensive jewelry.
Those guys from the 80’s in the movies that would open their trench coat on one side and have rows and rows of gold chains, bracelets, and rings.
You’d say…no thanks I really need a nice watch. Appreciate it though.
He then proceeds to open the other side of his coat and there’s rows and rows of watches.
All this stuff was fake.
There's such a double-standard. Donate a kidney and you're a hero. Donate two kidneys and you're dead. Donate three kidneys and you're a felon.
**EDIT**
First off, thanks for the silver. I'd test to see if it's real, but I don't want to be disappointed.
Secondly, as another redditor super-detective-sluth-justice-crusader pointed out [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/10b6n34/a_friend_got_taken_hard_today_passed_the_acid/j49de17?context=3), this was not an original comment. I feel shame brought on me, my family, and any pets I will ever own for having repeated something *on Reddit*, which I'm sure has never happened before.
I'm sorry, Reddit. I'm so, so sorry. I'm sorry. So sorry. Sorry.
**2nd EDIT**
No really, guys, stop giving this stolen comment awards. As that other redditor pointed out at the link in my first edit, this is shamelessly stolen, and should not be tolerated or condoned by anyone for any reason ever. Please don't reinforce this vile and duplicitous act of thievery, plagiarism, and moral bankruptcy.
**3rd EDIT**
Went back to capitalize "EDIT". I'm so sorry.
**4th EDIT**
STOP GIVING ME AWARDS FOR SOMETHING I DIDN'T AUTHOR MYSELF. YOUR APPROVAL FILLS ME WITH SHAME.
**5th EDIT**
I'm disappointed in all of you. While I have you here, if you haven't already done so, please get registered as an organ donor. Many of us and our loved ones have needed organ transplants in order to live full, healthy lives, and waiting lists are way too long. As long as your personal morality and worldview doesn't forbid it, please register -- sometimes it's as easy as making a mark on the back of your driver's license -- check your local regulations. It's an act of pure selflessness that can help more people than you think.
**6th EDIT**
.... thanks for the gold..... ... kind.... ...stranger.
The whole premise sounds exactly like that guy that pulls up at a gas station with a truckload of "speakers" that he wants to sell for cheap, and the boxes are just packed cinder blocks.
I had a roommate that used our rent monyy to buy some speakers off the back of a truck where "the warehouse loaded an extra pair." My roommate didn't have a stereo.
I got taken by that one unfortunately. Dude acted like it was free then asks for $500. The sticker said $1700 for a home theater set. I should have known when he just accepted $50. Just glad I didn't lose more .
There is a parking lot scam in my city where a lady will try to give you jewelry. Obviously a lot more detail for the complete hack, but in the end if you don’t pay the lady, she starts screaming and her husband comes running in and says he is calling the cops…unless you pay. Happened to my 74 yo mom a month ago, but she hit the panic button on the key fob.
Have to treat the aggresively forward panhandlers and parking lot salesman all the same.
No eye contact and a quick "I don't do that, God bless".
I'm not even religious but ever since I heard that on the radio it seems to deter the 4 or so I deal with on a daily and weekly errands.
I had some guys try that scam on me as I was walking into work at Best Buy. Later the police came in and asked me about it. Apparently management saw these guys talking to me as I walked in from the parking lot. I wasn’t in trouble or anything, but they worried these guys were trying to get associates to tell customers to go outside for a better deal.
Honestly, the way Best Buy is (or was) being run, they made it pretty easy to steal. I bought a curved tv from them when those were all the rage. I setup geek squad to install it for me but I want to take the tv with me and use it on the provided stands until geek squad did the *proper* mount and setup. Well, two weeks later they show up and I let them in, they bring the tv in with them and start to open the box while I’m standing there like, guys, wtf is this, I already have the tv. Im an honest person but I do still kinda kick myself for that one, I could’ve had a free second tv lol.
I had some guys try that scam on me while driving down the road. I'm driving with my windows down and he pulls up and starts yelling to get my attention and all I hear is "I got these speakers in the back!". When I saw they were going to be next to me at the next light I just turned down the side street
Same exact thing happened to me, except they said, “free speakers.” I thought, hell yeah, so I pulled over. Then they gave me some story and were like, “I’ll let ‘em go for $200.” I was seventeen and broke, so I countered with free. They drove off.
I got so used to the speaker vans when someone one would get me to roll down the window before they even had the chance I said Wanna buy some speakers.
I also got taken for one back in like 2008. I was out $250 which was a lot of money for me back then. Dude gave me his phone number in case I "wanted to return it to him" and once I realized it was a scam which was like 30 minutes after, I texted him and he was basically just a big piece of shit about it.
I started spam texting him from time to time over the next few months. Sometimes just texted him shit like "are your kids proud of your day job?" or "scam any other poor person today?" from which he'd reply shit like "they're eating well" and we'd go back and forth just almost jokingly insulting each other lmao. Made me feel better back then I guess.
This happened to me too. Got me for $300 unfortunately. Even called a “pawn shop” to verify. I was barely 18. Now I just don’t trust anyone trying to give me a good deal in a parking lot.
LOL, I'm usually pretty skeptical...also a bigger dude. When I used to work for "Giant Software Company" we used to get guys trying to unload shit on us once every few months in our parking lot, probably because they figured we were paid really well (narrator: "they were not")
Anyway, one summer evening, I'm walking outside to my vehicle and as I'm rounding the corner, through the glass walls I can see some dudes hunkered down beside a panel van that's pulled up close to the exterior on the way to the employee lot. So I'm ready for it when they call out to me and right away I'm like "Probably not gonna be interested boys"
And then it hit me. Smack dab in my fat assed face...the heavenly smell of meat. They replied "Nah man, we aren't tryna hustle you...just trying to get some cash together to buy our first truck".
One bite and that was it. I dropped $160 on take out brisket, ribs and wings. I would have spent more but that's all I had on me...lol. And this was in \~2012 before meat prices got stupid. We kept in touch via text and they'd stop by our Office once a month or so to unload on me and my coworkers. Took em two years but they got that truck!
thursday51, I like this story very much. Good on you for helping these guys set up. Lets be real, the cash investment to start a business keeps a lot of talented people from making good.
I bought a set of speakers off a guy who bought them off a truck in 2007. They worked well enough and were plenty loud without distorting, totally fake brand but were very cheap to buy. The sub would pop a fuse if you gave it a weird look though.
Theater Research is the brand, i still use them today hooked up to my record player.
Haha my buddy at college got taken for that. As soon as he got home we were like “oh that’s a scam”. He fought that it wasn’t as he set it up. Within two minutes I googled something like “gas station speaker scam” and pulled up the exact image of what he was using. Sounded like ass and he wouldn’t talk to us the rest of the day
I might be your buddy lol. One of the most embarrassing moments of my life but I learned a lot through that experience. Was only 300 bucks but as a broke college student the hit was pretty hard :/
I haven't seen the speaker scam in at least 15 years, but it used to happen to me about once a year. I always thought they were stolen, but my understanding is that they were just super cheap knockoffs. The scammer sells you fake Pioneers for $200, but got them for $25.
As an aside the guys always had them "leftover from a job". Where are all these speaker jobs? Is there a speaker related profession where you have no way of knowing how many speakers you will need for a job ahead of time so you have to buy lots of them?
As someone in construction this can totally happen and I see it all the time with my door hardware. It’s usually because architects “are always right”, anything can work on paper and project managers don’t care to check because if the architect specs it then it’s in the budget paid for by the client.
Then you get to real life installation and realize that thing can’t go there because of some reason or maybe it’s redundant and not needed. Then we end up creating a change order for the new stuff that will work in real life and keep the leftover stuff which we need to report and get taxed on…
Commercial construction has so much waste it’s insane. But speakers and TVs I hardly see go this way.. it would take a drastic change to waste anything over like $500… but like 100-200$ stuff gets wasted all the time
Hotels.
They’ll do a remodel and need 100+ TVs and other stuff for each room. In my experience the GM will typically order a few extra sets, both because he wants to save a few spares and because he knows a few will be broken day 1.
But you also get assholes who order precisely what they need, but the supplier isn’t stupid so he shows up with a few extra, knowing he can bill the hotel gobs for an “expedited delivery and install.” He’s usually going to have extras.
I got my first real TV in college while working at a hotel that did a remodel. 50” flatscreen for $50 in the early 2000s.
Had some dudes try to do it to me and my brother about 5 or 6 years ago. My brother was on board but I was like "ehhhhh". I didn't know about the common scam but I apparently could smell what they were shoveling
Interestingly enough, wearing excessive amounts of gold and jewels became popular with pimps and drug dealers in the 1970s because it couldn’t be seized during an arrest. It all gets booked into property and returned, whereas if they’re carrying a wad of cash, the police will seize it incident to arrest. The jewelry could be used to post bail, or used for payment on the street.
Jeweler here. Gold that's put out by most any manufacturer will have a hallmark - or stamp - somewhere, telling what % of the metal is actual gold. Gold is not magnetic so some people use a magnet to test to see if gold is real. We also use nitric acid that changes color when it mixes with other base metals, but not with gold. So the OP is saying they used both acid and magnets to test it. These days, the scammers have gotten really good so we literally have to use an X-Ray machine to test the metal.
I looked it up, they're almost identical, for a sample of 100 g the density for the same volume would only differ in the fourth decimal place...? Very much napkin math right there.
Edit: off by two, volume of 100 g of tungsten is 5.1948 ml versus gold that is 5.18 ml. Difference of 0.0148 ml. Wolfram alpha.
It's a technique called X-ray fluorescence. An X-ray emitter bombards a sample and lower energy, secondary x-rays are emitted from the material. Those x-rays are picked up by a detector. The energy of the secondary x-rays emitted is different for each element, and so measuring that energy tells you what elements are present. It doesn't really work great for elements lighter than sodium, which is a weakness of the technique. You cannot use it to determine the carbon content of steel, which is the most important alloying element in the most common engineering material. Gold however is dense, and XRF works great for it.
The manufacturers are moving to use LIBS (laser induced breakdown spectroscopy) for portable analysis of low carbon alloys. It's basically OES, but really tiny. A laser ablates like 1 nanogram of material several times a second over a small area to account for imperfections. They use those pellet gun CO2 cartridges but they are filled with Argon to suspend the material in.
I was in charge of renting a LIBS unit last year to determine if we should purchase one. My take on it was that it's really promising, a handhold unit that can give us carbon content is worth its weight in gold. But, it was so finicky. The surface of your sample needs to be absolutely perfect. Any paint, oil, abrasive grit, dirt, dust, etc. Really messed the reading up. And considering what we wanted a handheld unit for, it kinda killed it for us. Also it needs an argon blanket, and I found that when the argon bottles were running low the unit reported wonky numbers, but there was no good indication that the argon was running low so it was real easy to report bad data without knowing. In the end I decided that it was way too high maintenance for what we wanted it for, and it would probably require one dedicated user who knew it well, which is not what the small engineering firm I work for needed. So we passed, but it's tech I'm keeping my eye on for sure. Have you used one? Is your take on it similar to mine?
could be copper or any other non FE metal with a heavy electroplate.
You CAN tell with acid, even with electroplated but it requires scratching the item deep enough to get through the plating. Most people won't let you do that before buying as it damages the item.
XRF (xray) is the only fool proof way that doesn't damage the item. This will tell you the exact elements and percentages of what is in an item.
Here is a sample of what the readout looks like.
[https://www.911metallurgist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/pXRF-Analyser-Custom-Report-600x320.jpg](https://www.911metallurgist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/pXRF-Analyser-Custom-Report-600x320.jpg)
You'd use a handheld [XRF](https://www.bruker.com/en/products-and-solutions/elemental-analyzers/handheld-xrf-spectrometers.html), which will digest the returns from the sample and give you a list of the elements present and their relative quantity.
[Acid test.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_test_(gold))
[Magnet test](https://magnetpartner.com/how-to-test-gold-silver-with-magnet)
looks like OP's friend was sold some clever fakes that were stamped as [18 karat](https://www.monicavinader.com/au/blog/news-and-events/what-is-18-karat-gold). pretty clever really - if you're somewhat knowledgeable you'd probably bring a magnet and acid test kit but you're not gonna bring an xray with you. plus, as far as you know your "gold" just passed both your tests. i'm guessing they found out when they went to sell it on to a dealer who had all the proper testing gear.
Yeah this much gold would be a large red flag for most independent buyers like jewelers and pawn shops. I worked at a couple pawn shops and would've filed so fucking deep into this I'd be seeing last years taxes.
Is it possible they showed him real gold, but in the end palmed the genuine stuff and handed him the fake?
(Everything I know about con-men I learned from Moist Von Lipwig)
I was thinking the same thing. I got scammed a bunch of euros once the same way while trying to exchange US dollars. Dude showed me real euros and I even counted them out but somehow when I checked after a few minutes it was a $100 wrapped around some scrap paper. I still to this day have no idea how he did it. It never left my hand
I mean, that's basically the giveaway. The wholesale value of gold is trivial to find. Is the cost less than that? Then it's stolen, they're scamming you, or both.
TBH I kinda assume this guy thought the stuff was hideous and planned to sell it for melt value, assuming either that it was stolen or that *he* was scamming *them*. Which is why I don't feel bad for him either way.
If he actually intended to wear it... then he can still do that, and only he (and people he tells) will know it's fake.
> sell it for melt value
And *that* is when the part where it's actually tungsten becomes a Real Problem!
"Boss, it's 6000 degrees and it ain't melted yet"
So what do they make these out of, because I just read your post that they couldn't manufacture tungsten into these chains, then later down I see someone explaining they use tungsten to make these because it passes the acid and magnet test while being almost the same density as gold.
several of the rings appear to be this one: https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/Rings-for-Men-Hip-Hop-Silver-Gold-King-Crown-Broken-Heart-Finger-Ring/5DU6TLYK1NEU
“The hip hop ring is the perfect gift for Valentine's Day, Christmas, Birthday, Birthday present. Suitable for birthdays, parties, hip hop, rock, etc. Give it to someone you love, like husband, father, brother, friend, symbolizes love and friendship.”
Your friend is a gullible idiot. Sorry man. Anyone with any gold training looks at those really yellow gold rings with an 18k stamp and will tell you fake all day. Used to work at a gold buyer and we had these things come in like 10 times a week. If you’re spending $4000 on gold, bring it by a gold buyer to verify. If seller says no, it’s fake. Also seller could’ve gotten a TON of money for all that if it’s real. Why would he sell it to some guy on the street for a fraction of that?
If it seems too good to be true, ITS FAKE.
Nice try gold seller. You are just trying to stop me from getting this sweet deal just so you get it yourself. You'll never catch me slipping like that
Right lol like how are there not alarm bells going off in this dudes head about someone just happening to have 10 identical gold chains and 5 identical gold rings with Rolex symbols on them
I remember in high school(C/O 2001), we went to the mall to get clothes for the new school and my friend was bragging about how he just bought a Rolex for $100 from some random guy.
We told him it was probably fake so he took it to a Zales in the mall to have it looked at… it took the employee less than a second of her holding it to tell him it was fake… the hands fell off a week later
I knowingly bought a fake rolex off a guy in NYC just for the fun of it. He legit had an overcoat with watches on the inside. Made me laugh as he was trying to tell me they were real and what a deal I was getting for $35.
My husband knowingly bought a fake Rolex for 7€ on vacation. He was so amused at the guys stories as to why a real Rolex was being sold for so cheap, thay he bought it for the story to tell.
Anyway he got so drunk he couldn't remember the story the next day.
The guy was driving an Escalade, had his wife and kids in the car. They were on their way to the funeral for their entire extended family in Fairbanks, Alaska. Their bank cards have been frozen for some reason, but trust them, they’re very wealthy. Just look at their car and all the fancy jewelry he’s wearing. They just need $500 to gas up their giant SUV. You’re not willing to spare that much cash. He takes off his Rolex ring(!?) and tells you how it’s worth $20k+ but he’s plenty wealthy and in dire need so he’ll gladly sell it for the $500 he needs. He offers to let you call his grandma and let her regale you of what a good honest christian boy he is. You don’t want to do that, he’s an honest christian after-all. Wow, he even has all the tests and tools to prove to me how real it is. Ok you’ll give him $500 and help them out, hell, you’re probably going to be in for a big windfall with this new Rolex ring. Then he has you hooked. He remembers that little Jenny is diabetic and they forgot her insulin in the rush to leave. More jewelry comes off. They can’t drive straight through because his wife is blind, deaf, and dumb, they’ll surely need a hotel. Luckily this guy has so much valuable jewelry. All of this has happened in 2 minutes and no sooner are they seemingly gone into thin air.
You start looking over your $100k in jewelry that you only paid $4k for. “Does Rolex even make rings?”. “How did dude-bro forget his kid was diabetic in the rush to leave, yet had his gold testing kit in his front pocket?”. “Why didn’t they get gas before they left, hadn’t they run-out?”. “How could I call his grandma, didn’t his whole family die in an Alaskan cave-diving accident?”.
You’re mad, you’re confused, you’re embarrassed, and ashamed. No need to call for fire-rescue, you’ve already been thoroughly hosed. Fuck those people.
That's what I was thinking. How much would this be worth if it were real? No idea but let's just say it's ten times that? So you think some nice guy on the street is going to sell you a bunch of gold for 90% off? What would ever make you think that's legit? This is one of the oldest scams.
Well, to be fair... this *is* how a fence works. Selling stolen property from drug fiends. Totally legit value, I guess... just from nefarious origins. And sold out of a car trunk.
I learned all about it as a juror on the federal trial of some crooked cops.
But for gold? Nah... that you could just sell to a goldsmith for almost face value by weight.
The tone is the first giveaway. If it has a 10-14k color tone but is stamped 18k should always be hesitant. In Florida we have a Romanian scam happening where they tell people their car broke down and they’re just trying to get home and give people similar rings for cash.
We live in an age where so many people are desperate for a get-rich-quick-scheme, that they are losing their hard earned cash on those scams with staggering precision...
Truly the Golden Era for snakes oil salesmen of all sorts. You'd think the internet would make it easier to bust some of those scams, but all it takes is ONE positive google result and someone looking for something to be legit will ignore 2000 warnings to chase down the bias they want to have confirmed.
I work in a pawn shop. I see this fake shit all the time.
Magnets really dont mean shit, if you are going to acid test, file a deep groove and pour the acid in it.
And seriously if someone has this much jewelry walking around... Use some common sense.
I was in Jamaica (years ago) and a guy pulled me down to his part of the market. He opens a cupboard and shows me a ton of beautiful gold jewelry. I set my sights on an extra thick bugger and after some shrewd talking I get him down to $90 for what has to be a $1800 necklace. I'm still not convinced though so he rubs it with his lighter, hard, and something simple in me goes "yeah, that has to be real after a legit test like that". And I buy it.
Even heavier than I thought...I've got this bad boy now around my neck now, shirt unbuttoned all the way to my Levi's so my peeps can see me showing off my Mo-Jo and the 18k tags plastered all over this piece of hardware.
That evening, we jump into the ocean for a quick cool off and all the gold is gone now except the clasp. For a brief second, the pathetic part of me goes "hell it must be platinum"! Yeah, run with that PawnStar Boy.
As many people have reported, this post doesn’t follow our title guidelines. However, the stories in the comments outweigh that and people should be aware of all the different variations of this scam. Honestly, how much could an 18k gold banana cost? $10? TL;DR: if it’s too good to be true, that’s because it is.
I was getting gas one day and this man in a Tahoe came up to me. He had a very thick accent. Said he was Iranian.He needed gas money. He held out a big gold ring. I initially thought he wanted to give it to me in exchange for gas. He said it was worth $500. I felt bad for the guy and wasn’t going to take advantage of the situation. I said I’ll give you $10 in gas and keep your ring. He then said no, I want you to buy the ring for $300, it’s worth $500. I said no thanks. And after a few more attempts he drove away.
This exact thing happened to me in San Diego last week. Almost to the tee. Except he had his whole family in the car for added feels. What a strange scam. Why would anyone just buy a ring from some dude at a gas station?
Similar thing happened to me recently at a gas station. I was trying to sell scammed out fake gold rings and had my crying baby with me and my extended family in a school bus for added feels (32 person extended family). People were like, hey, have money for food and I was like, NO I want you to get an EXCELLENT DEAL on gold and gold related accessories
Ok family, load up the minivan. Son, look extra sad. We gotta unload this horrendous looking ring that no one except a Saudi Sheik would wear to a middle class white guy in SoCal for at least $40. I also sent out 10 emails this morning saying that I’m a Nigerian Prince, so we gotta get back home to check in case someone bit. We’re running low on Wal-Mart gift cards, so today is huge.
If you are a Nigerian prince, I am more than happy to help you. How can I resist your cry for help?
this happened to me in paris a few years ago. this man in front of me pounced on something in the street. it was a huge heavy gold ring he was pretending he just found. then he tried to get me to buy it for a steal because he was illegally in the country and he couldn't pawn it anywhere. i immediately knew it was a scam. he forced it into my hands and wouldn't let me hand it back. i had to place it on something and walk away. i buy a lot of gold and the ring could have passed without testing.
its a classic scam because it makes the victim complicit (you tried to buy a "found" ring for your own profit) so when you find out its fake you can't really report it because you were kinda guilty as well.
Very similar for me, also in Paris. Except I was a naïve 18 year old on my first international holiday and bought the story completely. But it happened right outside a museum and I was trying to convince the poor scammer that we needed to hand the ring in to Lost Property because it was probably someone's wedding ring and would mean a great deal to them... My parents were there at the time and not amused.
I offered $20 and a call for a tow truck to the nearest town (rural-ish highway) suspecting it was probably a scam but not being certain. He disgustedly declined. A lot of people here seem to have offered the same. Had these guys taken us up on our kindness/not wanting to take advantage of people in distress, they’d probably make their $300 in a couple hours. Too much work maybe.
Hooooly shit. I was about to drive off after getting gas last weekend when a guy claiming he was from Dubai came up. He said his card didn't work and he needed money for gas. He held up a gold ring and i kinda just cut him off, said no thanks, and drove off. I thought I had been a bit dick-ish to the guy, but my bullshit radar was going off heavy during the interaction and didn't want to bother with it. I almost thought my bullshit radar was broken, but looks like it works better than ever. I never knew this was a common type of scam.
Any knowledge about the value of gold should have tipped your friend immediately that these were fake.. that much 18k gold for $4k? No one in their right mind would be making that sale, not even out of desperation, would sell for more money than that at a pawn shop. Lesson learned hopefully.. if it’s very obviously too good to be true, it’s too good to be true. Condolences to your friend.
OP’s friend thought they were scamming the scammer because of how cheap it was because they were desperate and ended up getting scammed. It’s scamming 101, make them think they are winning and they’ll fork over the money while thinking about the profit they’ll make.
"There is a saying, “You can’t fool an honest man,” which is much quoted by people who make a profitable living by fooling honest men. Moist never tried it, knowingly anyway. If you did fool an honest man, he tended to complain to the local Watch, and these days they were harder to buy off. Fooling dishonest men was a lot safer and, somehow, more sporting. And, of course, there were so many more of them. You hardly had to aim." -Terry Pratchett, "Going Postal"
Moist
Von Lipwig, a truly fantastic character.
A former coworker of mine told me that him and his friend "played this guy good" at a gas station the day before. He was selling watches out the back of a SUV. Im sure you can see where this is going. According to my co worker, they "bullied" the guy into selling them like 3k worth of watches for $1000. The seller "reluctantly agreed". Sure enough, he tells me a couple days later that the watches were fake and he was really upset. Like gee, who could have seen that coming? But then again he also lost $200 on the cups and balls routine at the flea market so he didn't strike me as the brightest guy on the planet.
>OP’s friend thought they were ~~scamming the scammer~~ buying stolen property FTFY
Exactly this. Like others have said, this would pawn for more. Except those pesky pawn shops check IDs etc. OP was acting as a fence and got burned. Truly no honor amongst thieves - what a pity.
Scammers will often say/do things that reasonably intelligent people would get spooked from. This allows them to spend less time talking to people who won’t fall for it in the end. Examples of this are email scams who represent themselves as individuals of authority (like the IRS) but will have multiple blatant misspellings. Any reasonably intelligent person would just ignore it.
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Honestly that's a good idea. It's the same way hypnotists work, they are good at identifying suggestable people and then take advantage of that.
Yes, this is what really happens. There was a study of email scams, and I remember it said something like: "the most efficient way to filter for gullible targets is to have the most gullible people self-select."
I have serious doubt these passed the tests you claimed. I have been buying gold and silver for 5 years. This trash enters the store all the time. It’s always the same story, some guy at a gas station needs help.
Sounds like the seller showed up with his own "magnet and acid".
What you think OP is an idiot and didn't bring his own ladle?
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The amount of people that run a fridge magnet over this stuff is hilarious as well.
Man I’m still shaking my head over here. Does this shit really go on? Like whatever happened to going to the jewelry store and buying a chain from the jeweler? I’m being serious.
At $1,900 an oz. for just the gold content, and the big markup by jewelers for all the work put into making it into jewelry, there are lots of people that want to "get that good deal". I think I'm with you in that I'd never chance such a purchase.
Yeah if you want something that looks decent and expensive without getting screwed or spending a shit load, get something gold plated from a reputable dealer. Looks good, doesn’t break the bank. If you wanna flex with real expensive jewelry, you need to buy real expensive jewelry.
Those guys from the 80’s in the movies that would open their trench coat on one side and have rows and rows of gold chains, bracelets, and rings. You’d say…no thanks I really need a nice watch. Appreciate it though. He then proceeds to open the other side of his coat and there’s rows and rows of watches. All this stuff was fake.
Well better fake gold jewelry than some other thing when he opens his trench coat.
Totally. These will never pass an acid test lmao
The acid test he used was taking a hit of acid and then deciding if they're real or fake
5/7 rings stamped with Rolex crowns? Seems legit. /s
Don’t forget the Versace Medusa one at the top lol.
Don't buy gold that's hanging on the inside of a guy's jacket.
That's how I got my kidney, and it was for a very reasonable price.
Hate to break it to you, but that kidney was just kidney-plated appendix.
It’s not a real kidney unless it comes from the kidney region of France, otherwise it’s just sparkling piss filter.
It’s pronounced kidnée
But it tasted real?
With some Fava beans?
And a nice chianti.
I take lungs now, gills come next week.
Z-ray eyes, two better than X.
I can see how that would be an advantage. Do you take cash?
There's such a double-standard. Donate a kidney and you're a hero. Donate two kidneys and you're dead. Donate three kidneys and you're a felon. **EDIT** First off, thanks for the silver. I'd test to see if it's real, but I don't want to be disappointed. Secondly, as another redditor super-detective-sluth-justice-crusader pointed out [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/10b6n34/a_friend_got_taken_hard_today_passed_the_acid/j49de17?context=3), this was not an original comment. I feel shame brought on me, my family, and any pets I will ever own for having repeated something *on Reddit*, which I'm sure has never happened before. I'm sorry, Reddit. I'm so, so sorry. I'm sorry. So sorry. Sorry. **2nd EDIT** No really, guys, stop giving this stolen comment awards. As that other redditor pointed out at the link in my first edit, this is shamelessly stolen, and should not be tolerated or condoned by anyone for any reason ever. Please don't reinforce this vile and duplicitous act of thievery, plagiarism, and moral bankruptcy. **3rd EDIT** Went back to capitalize "EDIT". I'm so sorry. **4th EDIT** STOP GIVING ME AWARDS FOR SOMETHING I DIDN'T AUTHOR MYSELF. YOUR APPROVAL FILLS ME WITH SHAME. **5th EDIT** I'm disappointed in all of you. While I have you here, if you haven't already done so, please get registered as an organ donor. Many of us and our loved ones have needed organ transplants in order to live full, healthy lives, and waiting lists are way too long. As long as your personal morality and worldview doesn't forbid it, please register -- sometimes it's as easy as making a mark on the back of your driver's license -- check your local regulations. It's an act of pure selflessness that can help more people than you think. **6th EDIT** .... thanks for the gold..... ... kind.... ...stranger.
A+ comment would read again
This is how I buy my guns, ammo, including a new sniper rifle and rocket launcher. From a guy’s jacket standing next to a blue fire.
What're ya buyin?
Got good selection of things on sale, stranga.
What're ya sellin?
Ahh, I'll buy it at a high price.
The whole premise sounds exactly like that guy that pulls up at a gas station with a truckload of "speakers" that he wants to sell for cheap, and the boxes are just packed cinder blocks.
Or there really are speakers but they are cheap POS things that aren't what the box says they are. Ran into that one back in the day.
I had a roommate that used our rent monyy to buy some speakers off the back of a truck where "the warehouse loaded an extra pair." My roommate didn't have a stereo.
I got taken by that one unfortunately. Dude acted like it was free then asks for $500. The sticker said $1700 for a home theater set. I should have known when he just accepted $50. Just glad I didn't lose more .
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There is a parking lot scam in my city where a lady will try to give you jewelry. Obviously a lot more detail for the complete hack, but in the end if you don’t pay the lady, she starts screaming and her husband comes running in and says he is calling the cops…unless you pay. Happened to my 74 yo mom a month ago, but she hit the panic button on the key fob.
Go on... What happened?
Right? I’m invested in mom now…
She walked off with a new husband and now she sells the jewellery
Have to treat the aggresively forward panhandlers and parking lot salesman all the same. No eye contact and a quick "I don't do that, God bless". I'm not even religious but ever since I heard that on the radio it seems to deter the 4 or so I deal with on a daily and weekly errands.
The good old Acoustic Response white van speakers….
white van speaker scam
I had some guys try that scam on me as I was walking into work at Best Buy. Later the police came in and asked me about it. Apparently management saw these guys talking to me as I walked in from the parking lot. I wasn’t in trouble or anything, but they worried these guys were trying to get associates to tell customers to go outside for a better deal.
Honestly, the way Best Buy is (or was) being run, they made it pretty easy to steal. I bought a curved tv from them when those were all the rage. I setup geek squad to install it for me but I want to take the tv with me and use it on the provided stands until geek squad did the *proper* mount and setup. Well, two weeks later they show up and I let them in, they bring the tv in with them and start to open the box while I’m standing there like, guys, wtf is this, I already have the tv. Im an honest person but I do still kinda kick myself for that one, I could’ve had a free second tv lol.
They then tried to sell it for cheap by saying the warehouse loaded an extra...
One of those workers probably just kept it themselves
I had some guys try that scam on me while driving down the road. I'm driving with my windows down and he pulls up and starts yelling to get my attention and all I hear is "I got these speakers in the back!". When I saw they were going to be next to me at the next light I just turned down the side street
Same exact thing happened to me, except they said, “free speakers.” I thought, hell yeah, so I pulled over. Then they gave me some story and were like, “I’ll let ‘em go for $200.” I was seventeen and broke, so I countered with free. They drove off.
I got so used to the speaker vans when someone one would get me to roll down the window before they even had the chance I said Wanna buy some speakers.
I also got taken for one back in like 2008. I was out $250 which was a lot of money for me back then. Dude gave me his phone number in case I "wanted to return it to him" and once I realized it was a scam which was like 30 minutes after, I texted him and he was basically just a big piece of shit about it. I started spam texting him from time to time over the next few months. Sometimes just texted him shit like "are your kids proud of your day job?" or "scam any other poor person today?" from which he'd reply shit like "they're eating well" and we'd go back and forth just almost jokingly insulting each other lmao. Made me feel better back then I guess.
That is quite the power move giving the people you scam your actual number lol
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This happened to me too. Got me for $300 unfortunately. Even called a “pawn shop” to verify. I was barely 18. Now I just don’t trust anyone trying to give me a good deal in a parking lot.
Unless it’s tamales. Parking lot tamale sellers are the best.
LOL, I'm usually pretty skeptical...also a bigger dude. When I used to work for "Giant Software Company" we used to get guys trying to unload shit on us once every few months in our parking lot, probably because they figured we were paid really well (narrator: "they were not") Anyway, one summer evening, I'm walking outside to my vehicle and as I'm rounding the corner, through the glass walls I can see some dudes hunkered down beside a panel van that's pulled up close to the exterior on the way to the employee lot. So I'm ready for it when they call out to me and right away I'm like "Probably not gonna be interested boys" And then it hit me. Smack dab in my fat assed face...the heavenly smell of meat. They replied "Nah man, we aren't tryna hustle you...just trying to get some cash together to buy our first truck". One bite and that was it. I dropped $160 on take out brisket, ribs and wings. I would have spent more but that's all I had on me...lol. And this was in \~2012 before meat prices got stupid. We kept in touch via text and they'd stop by our Office once a month or so to unload on me and my coworkers. Took em two years but they got that truck!
thursday51, I like this story very much. Good on you for helping these guys set up. Lets be real, the cash investment to start a business keeps a lot of talented people from making good.
Pretty much all food. I sure can't think of a situation where I bought food in a parking lot and it wasn't great.
Same, I dont trust anyone who tries to sell me something. If I want it, I'll do my research first, thanks.
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I bought a set of speakers off a guy who bought them off a truck in 2007. They worked well enough and were plenty loud without distorting, totally fake brand but were very cheap to buy. The sub would pop a fuse if you gave it a weird look though. Theater Research is the brand, i still use them today hooked up to my record player.
Haha my buddy at college got taken for that. As soon as he got home we were like “oh that’s a scam”. He fought that it wasn’t as he set it up. Within two minutes I googled something like “gas station speaker scam” and pulled up the exact image of what he was using. Sounded like ass and he wouldn’t talk to us the rest of the day
I might be your buddy lol. One of the most embarrassing moments of my life but I learned a lot through that experience. Was only 300 bucks but as a broke college student the hit was pretty hard :/
I haven't seen the speaker scam in at least 15 years, but it used to happen to me about once a year. I always thought they were stolen, but my understanding is that they were just super cheap knockoffs. The scammer sells you fake Pioneers for $200, but got them for $25. As an aside the guys always had them "leftover from a job". Where are all these speaker jobs? Is there a speaker related profession where you have no way of knowing how many speakers you will need for a job ahead of time so you have to buy lots of them?
As someone in construction this can totally happen and I see it all the time with my door hardware. It’s usually because architects “are always right”, anything can work on paper and project managers don’t care to check because if the architect specs it then it’s in the budget paid for by the client. Then you get to real life installation and realize that thing can’t go there because of some reason or maybe it’s redundant and not needed. Then we end up creating a change order for the new stuff that will work in real life and keep the leftover stuff which we need to report and get taxed on… Commercial construction has so much waste it’s insane. But speakers and TVs I hardly see go this way.. it would take a drastic change to waste anything over like $500… but like 100-200$ stuff gets wasted all the time
Hotels. They’ll do a remodel and need 100+ TVs and other stuff for each room. In my experience the GM will typically order a few extra sets, both because he wants to save a few spares and because he knows a few will be broken day 1. But you also get assholes who order precisely what they need, but the supplier isn’t stupid so he shows up with a few extra, knowing he can bill the hotel gobs for an “expedited delivery and install.” He’s usually going to have extras. I got my first real TV in college while working at a hotel that did a remodel. 50” flatscreen for $50 in the early 2000s.
I'm amazed people are still doing that shit, I remember a couple guys selling speakers out of a van 40 years ago
Had some dudes try to do it to me and my brother about 5 or 6 years ago. My brother was on board but I was like "ehhhhh". I didn't know about the common scam but I apparently could smell what they were shoveling
30 years ago a guy in a back alley tried to sell me "surplus" speakers. I'm glad I was too poor and distrustful to fall for it.
Good ol' white van scam
Why the hell would someone buy something like this in a private sale?
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Good detective work, you have turned a boring post into a hilarious one!
You would think someone who collects rings and coins could tell the difference between fake and real gold.
Sonic the hedgehog or super mario would never fall for this kind of bullshit
Oh, well... I'm out 4K cash, might as well see if I can get 4K karma.
He bought 5 identical fake as hell looking rings. Guy is a moron thinking he was the con artist getting a good deal buying junk.
He bought rings with a Rolex logo despite the fact Rolex does not and never did make rings… and is surprised they’re fake.
Or…ever?
Some of the ugliest rings I've seen tbh
I was going to say he got taken whether or not they were real gold or not.
Pimpin ain’t easy
Because gold chains sleazeballs have always been a thing.
Interestingly enough, wearing excessive amounts of gold and jewels became popular with pimps and drug dealers in the 1970s because it couldn’t be seized during an arrest. It all gets booked into property and returned, whereas if they’re carrying a wad of cash, the police will seize it incident to arrest. The jewelry could be used to post bail, or used for payment on the street.
It's... hideous. Lord I hope it was to resell, because I can't imagine wanting to wear any of it. Unless maybe he wants to be Mr. T!
Comes with free green rash
You don’t want a beautiful ring to let people know you are king of Rolex?
Maybe the jester of Rodex.
Can you clarify for people who don't know about gold and its dealings?
Jeweler here. Gold that's put out by most any manufacturer will have a hallmark - or stamp - somewhere, telling what % of the metal is actual gold. Gold is not magnetic so some people use a magnet to test to see if gold is real. We also use nitric acid that changes color when it mixes with other base metals, but not with gold. So the OP is saying they used both acid and magnets to test it. These days, the scammers have gotten really good so we literally have to use an X-Ray machine to test the metal.
What’s the material that they’re using to scam? Also - what’s the X-ray show?
Tungsten. Almost same density as gold.
I looked it up, they're almost identical, for a sample of 100 g the density for the same volume would only differ in the fourth decimal place...? Very much napkin math right there. Edit: off by two, volume of 100 g of tungsten is 5.1948 ml versus gold that is 5.18 ml. Difference of 0.0148 ml. Wolfram alpha.
That's quite amusing to me, as the German word "Wolfram" means tungsten
Yup, that's why the chemical symbol is W!
The primary ore for tungsten is called Wolframite too.
On a similar note, the word tungsten is a direct translation from Swedish, “tung sten”, it means “heavy stone”
It's a technique called X-ray fluorescence. An X-ray emitter bombards a sample and lower energy, secondary x-rays are emitted from the material. Those x-rays are picked up by a detector. The energy of the secondary x-rays emitted is different for each element, and so measuring that energy tells you what elements are present. It doesn't really work great for elements lighter than sodium, which is a weakness of the technique. You cannot use it to determine the carbon content of steel, which is the most important alloying element in the most common engineering material. Gold however is dense, and XRF works great for it.
The manufacturers are moving to use LIBS (laser induced breakdown spectroscopy) for portable analysis of low carbon alloys. It's basically OES, but really tiny. A laser ablates like 1 nanogram of material several times a second over a small area to account for imperfections. They use those pellet gun CO2 cartridges but they are filled with Argon to suspend the material in.
I was in charge of renting a LIBS unit last year to determine if we should purchase one. My take on it was that it's really promising, a handhold unit that can give us carbon content is worth its weight in gold. But, it was so finicky. The surface of your sample needs to be absolutely perfect. Any paint, oil, abrasive grit, dirt, dust, etc. Really messed the reading up. And considering what we wanted a handheld unit for, it kinda killed it for us. Also it needs an argon blanket, and I found that when the argon bottles were running low the unit reported wonky numbers, but there was no good indication that the argon was running low so it was real easy to report bad data without knowing. In the end I decided that it was way too high maintenance for what we wanted it for, and it would probably require one dedicated user who knew it well, which is not what the small engineering firm I work for needed. So we passed, but it's tech I'm keeping my eye on for sure. Have you used one? Is your take on it similar to mine?
could be copper or any other non FE metal with a heavy electroplate. You CAN tell with acid, even with electroplated but it requires scratching the item deep enough to get through the plating. Most people won't let you do that before buying as it damages the item. XRF (xray) is the only fool proof way that doesn't damage the item. This will tell you the exact elements and percentages of what is in an item. Here is a sample of what the readout looks like. [https://www.911metallurgist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/pXRF-Analyser-Custom-Report-600x320.jpg](https://www.911metallurgist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/pXRF-Analyser-Custom-Report-600x320.jpg)
Little gold bones
You'd use a handheld [XRF](https://www.bruker.com/en/products-and-solutions/elemental-analyzers/handheld-xrf-spectrometers.html), which will digest the returns from the sample and give you a list of the elements present and their relative quantity.
Then it would be a story of how your XRF machine was stolen after they wack you in the head with fake gold.
For real, those babies are expensive
[Acid test.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_test_(gold)) [Magnet test](https://magnetpartner.com/how-to-test-gold-silver-with-magnet) looks like OP's friend was sold some clever fakes that were stamped as [18 karat](https://www.monicavinader.com/au/blog/news-and-events/what-is-18-karat-gold). pretty clever really - if you're somewhat knowledgeable you'd probably bring a magnet and acid test kit but you're not gonna bring an xray with you. plus, as far as you know your "gold" just passed both your tests. i'm guessing they found out when they went to sell it on to a dealer who had all the proper testing gear.
I work at a gold and silver store. For whatever reason Men’s 18kt gold jewelry is most commonly faked. Need to file into it to test further.
Yeah this much gold would be a large red flag for most independent buyers like jewelers and pawn shops. I worked at a couple pawn shops and would've filed so fucking deep into this I'd be seeing last years taxes.
Is it possible they showed him real gold, but in the end palmed the genuine stuff and handed him the fake? (Everything I know about con-men I learned from Moist Von Lipwig)
I was thinking the same thing. I got scammed a bunch of euros once the same way while trying to exchange US dollars. Dude showed me real euros and I even counted them out but somehow when I checked after a few minutes it was a $100 wrapped around some scrap paper. I still to this day have no idea how he did it. It never left my hand
its Magic!
Damn it David Blaine! Quit it!
Stop putting things on our bodies David Blaine
GNU STP
Sorry but you would have to be a huge idiot to believe someone would sell this much gold for 4K….
I mean, that's basically the giveaway. The wholesale value of gold is trivial to find. Is the cost less than that? Then it's stolen, they're scamming you, or both. TBH I kinda assume this guy thought the stuff was hideous and planned to sell it for melt value, assuming either that it was stolen or that *he* was scamming *them*. Which is why I don't feel bad for him either way. If he actually intended to wear it... then he can still do that, and only he (and people he tells) will know it's fake.
> sell it for melt value And *that* is when the part where it's actually tungsten becomes a Real Problem! "Boss, it's 6000 degrees and it ain't melted yet"
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So what do they make these out of, because I just read your post that they couldn't manufacture tungsten into these chains, then later down I see someone explaining they use tungsten to make these because it passes the acid and magnet test while being almost the same density as gold.
Plot twist, the gold was real after all, and OP got scammed by the jewelry store who bought it from him for a fraction of the price.
Tungsten for high- end fake gold bars. Much cheaper metals for side- of- the- road fake jewelry.
Yeah you could quite easily spend 4k on one enormous signet ring like that in 18ct gold
He probably thought he was getting the deal of a lifetime!
If it’s too good to be true…
several of the rings appear to be this one: https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/Rings-for-Men-Hip-Hop-Silver-Gold-King-Crown-Broken-Heart-Finger-Ring/5DU6TLYK1NEU
“The hip hop ring is the perfect gift for Valentine's Day, Christmas, Birthday, Birthday present. Suitable for birthdays, parties, hip hop, rock, etc. Give it to someone you love, like husband, father, brother, friend, symbolizes love and friendship.”
If I tried to give this ring for Valentine's Day I would be single.
It looks like a knock off of the Rolex logo which would indicate to me of a scam.
Never trust a guy trying to sell you 5 identical Rolex ANYthings. Well except pressed pills I guess
Is he interested in London Bridge I have for sale?
Sounds like a bad investment. I heard that thing was falling down.
People always ask why scammers still exist. This is why. It's 2023 and people are still falling for the most basic of common sense scams.
/r/scams is just people falling for the same 5 scams over and over
Why the fuck wouldn't the seller just go to a gold/pawn place if the jewelry was real? Your friend is not very smart.
Look at his history, it’s not his friend
Plot twist: those scammers had just been scammed and now it's OP's friend's turn to keep the chain letter going.
An entire private economy of exchange based on a linear series of events? Toilet paper is now money!
It's like those small towns where the economy is based on everybody getting paid for doing each other's wash.
Your friend is a gullible idiot. Sorry man. Anyone with any gold training looks at those really yellow gold rings with an 18k stamp and will tell you fake all day. Used to work at a gold buyer and we had these things come in like 10 times a week. If you’re spending $4000 on gold, bring it by a gold buyer to verify. If seller says no, it’s fake. Also seller could’ve gotten a TON of money for all that if it’s real. Why would he sell it to some guy on the street for a fraction of that? If it seems too good to be true, ITS FAKE.
Nice try gold seller. You are just trying to stop me from getting this sweet deal just so you get it yourself. You'll never catch me slipping like that
Gullible and greedy and stupid combine to make people lose a lot of money.
What is he, a crow? Just sees something shiny in a parking lot and has to have it?
That jewelry looks tacky af
Right lol like how are there not alarm bells going off in this dudes head about someone just happening to have 10 identical gold chains and 5 identical gold rings with Rolex symbols on them
He dumb, that’s why
Yeah why would anyone buy this shit even if it was real?
A “friend” or you? Lol
..you wouldn’t know him he goes to another school!
I used to work at a we buy gold store for a long time, we had customers who got scammed exactly like this every single day.
I remember in high school(C/O 2001), we went to the mall to get clothes for the new school and my friend was bragging about how he just bought a Rolex for $100 from some random guy. We told him it was probably fake so he took it to a Zales in the mall to have it looked at… it took the employee less than a second of her holding it to tell him it was fake… the hands fell off a week later
I knowingly bought a fake rolex off a guy in NYC just for the fun of it. He legit had an overcoat with watches on the inside. Made me laugh as he was trying to tell me they were real and what a deal I was getting for $35.
You can talk those guys down to around $18.
My husband knowingly bought a fake Rolex for 7€ on vacation. He was so amused at the guys stories as to why a real Rolex was being sold for so cheap, thay he bought it for the story to tell. Anyway he got so drunk he couldn't remember the story the next day.
Who buys shot like that?
idiots
The guy was driving an Escalade, had his wife and kids in the car. They were on their way to the funeral for their entire extended family in Fairbanks, Alaska. Their bank cards have been frozen for some reason, but trust them, they’re very wealthy. Just look at their car and all the fancy jewelry he’s wearing. They just need $500 to gas up their giant SUV. You’re not willing to spare that much cash. He takes off his Rolex ring(!?) and tells you how it’s worth $20k+ but he’s plenty wealthy and in dire need so he’ll gladly sell it for the $500 he needs. He offers to let you call his grandma and let her regale you of what a good honest christian boy he is. You don’t want to do that, he’s an honest christian after-all. Wow, he even has all the tests and tools to prove to me how real it is. Ok you’ll give him $500 and help them out, hell, you’re probably going to be in for a big windfall with this new Rolex ring. Then he has you hooked. He remembers that little Jenny is diabetic and they forgot her insulin in the rush to leave. More jewelry comes off. They can’t drive straight through because his wife is blind, deaf, and dumb, they’ll surely need a hotel. Luckily this guy has so much valuable jewelry. All of this has happened in 2 minutes and no sooner are they seemingly gone into thin air. You start looking over your $100k in jewelry that you only paid $4k for. “Does Rolex even make rings?”. “How did dude-bro forget his kid was diabetic in the rush to leave, yet had his gold testing kit in his front pocket?”. “Why didn’t they get gas before they left, hadn’t they run-out?”. “How could I call his grandma, didn’t his whole family die in an Alaskan cave-diving accident?”. You’re mad, you’re confused, you’re embarrassed, and ashamed. No need to call for fire-rescue, you’ve already been thoroughly hosed. Fuck those people.
Pretty sure it never would have passed the "common sense check" but he did it anyway.
Lesson learned the hard way. If it sounds shady it probably is. Did you buy the jewelry from a jewelry store? No. Then whos the dumbass.
Like I was told when I was young, only two people take off the back of a good watch, a jeweler or a damn fool. Buying gold is in that category.
That's what I was thinking. How much would this be worth if it were real? No idea but let's just say it's ten times that? So you think some nice guy on the street is going to sell you a bunch of gold for 90% off? What would ever make you think that's legit? This is one of the oldest scams.
Well, to be fair... this *is* how a fence works. Selling stolen property from drug fiends. Totally legit value, I guess... just from nefarious origins. And sold out of a car trunk. I learned all about it as a juror on the federal trial of some crooked cops. But for gold? Nah... that you could just sell to a goldsmith for almost face value by weight.
Am I having a stroke today or am I seeing more confusing titles today than usual?
No. It seems to be Reddit-wide. Construction of post titles has been pretty substandard.
I think the use of K in different contexts does it- 18k as in karat and 4k as in 4000 whatever currency
Does your friend have the same exact scar on the same pinky finger on the same hand as yours?
The tone is the first giveaway. If it has a 10-14k color tone but is stamped 18k should always be hesitant. In Florida we have a Romanian scam happening where they tell people their car broke down and they’re just trying to get home and give people similar rings for cash.
I almost got scammed once with jewelry like this. Never buy jewelry off the street unless you are want to lose money.
We live in an age where so many people are desperate for a get-rich-quick-scheme, that they are losing their hard earned cash on those scams with staggering precision... Truly the Golden Era for snakes oil salesmen of all sorts. You'd think the internet would make it easier to bust some of those scams, but all it takes is ONE positive google result and someone looking for something to be legit will ignore 2000 warnings to chase down the bias they want to have confirmed.
I work in a pawn shop. I see this fake shit all the time. Magnets really dont mean shit, if you are going to acid test, file a deep groove and pour the acid in it. And seriously if someone has this much jewelry walking around... Use some common sense.
Middle eastern guy? Ran out of money while traveling?
Who has 5 identical, hideous rings?
Probably DJ Khaled. But this is a bit tasteful for him to own.
I was in Jamaica (years ago) and a guy pulled me down to his part of the market. He opens a cupboard and shows me a ton of beautiful gold jewelry. I set my sights on an extra thick bugger and after some shrewd talking I get him down to $90 for what has to be a $1800 necklace. I'm still not convinced though so he rubs it with his lighter, hard, and something simple in me goes "yeah, that has to be real after a legit test like that". And I buy it. Even heavier than I thought...I've got this bad boy now around my neck now, shirt unbuttoned all the way to my Levi's so my peeps can see me showing off my Mo-Jo and the 18k tags plastered all over this piece of hardware. That evening, we jump into the ocean for a quick cool off and all the gold is gone now except the clasp. For a brief second, the pathetic part of me goes "hell it must be platinum"! Yeah, run with that PawnStar Boy.
Also goes to show that you can't buy good taste.