How to Buy Gold Online Safely: Avoid Scams & Fakes

Buy from established dealers: the large online bullion dealers with years of trading history, the national mints (US Mint, Royal Mint, Perth Mint, Royal Canadian Mint), or dealers recommended by industry associations. Check how long the dealer has traded, read independent reviews, and verify their physical address and contact details.

Red flags: no physical address, no phone number, prices far below spot, pressure to pay by wire transfer or cryptocurrency only, and a website created weeks ago. A legitimate dealer is easy to find and easy to contact; a scam dealer is neither.

Before buying, check the live spot price and the dealer's premium over it. For common bullion, the premium should be a few percent — not tens of percent, and never below spot. A dealer selling below spot is selling something that is not gold, or not selling anything at all.

Compare the total cost including shipping and insurance between two or three dealers. The cheapest headline price is not always the cheapest total — shipping, insurance and payment fees add up, and some dealers charge more for card payments than for bank transfers.

Pay by a method with buyer protection where possible: a credit card gives you chargeback rights if the dealer fails to deliver. Bank transfers are cheaper but offer no protection — use them only with dealers you trust completely. Never pay by gift card, cryptocurrency or cash to a dealer you have not verified.

Be wary of dealers who offer a discount for wire transfer only — it is a common feature of legitimate dealers (to avoid card fees), but it is also a feature of scams. The discount is real with a real dealer and a trap with a fake one; the dealer's reputation is what distinguishes them.

Legitimate dealers ship insured, tracked and discreetly packaged — the parcel does not advertise that it contains gold. Delivery usually requires a signature. If a dealer offers uninsured or untracked shipping for gold, do not buy from them.

When your gold arrives, check it immediately: the weight, the stamp, the serial number (for bars), and the packaging (sealed assay cards for minted bars). Weigh it on an accurate scale, and if anything looks wrong, contact the dealer at once — before the return window closes. For large purchases, consider an independent assay.

The common online gold scams are: fake dealer websites (copies of real dealers' sites with a slightly different URL), counterfeit bars and coins (tungsten-filled or plated), 'rare coin' scams (common coins sold at huge premiums as collectibles), and social media sellers with no track record.

The defence is always the same: buy from a dealer you have verified independently (not through a link someone sent you), check the price against spot, pay by a protected method, and verify what arrives. If a deal looks too good to be true, it is.