Officials have issued a public warning in the Inland Empire about a scam involving fake bars of gold after one Redlands man was swindled out of more than $20,000 in a scam.
Redlands city public information officer Carl Baker said the man who was scammed contacted the seller on Craigslist. He met the seller in a back alley on two occasions to purchase gold bars for a total of $21,000. The buyer later learned that the bars he purchased were fake.
"We believe there may be other victims out there and that's part of the reason why we are reaching out," said Baker "We would recommend if you are going to do something like this, that you would meet at a reputable dealer where you could have the product tested right then and there."
It's unclear why the buyer didn't have the gold tested first.
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"If a deal is too good to be true it usually is,” said Cesar Meyer, the owner of Crown Gold Exchange in Redlands.
Meyer said buyers can test the gold simply by using a magnet.
"If you just take a magnet and put it up to a piece of gold, if it somehow sticks for one reason or another then you know instantly it's not real," he said.
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The business owner also said the gold bars will have the weight imprinted into it and if the weight doesn't match up, it’s most likely fake.
"If you are being offered this under the price of gold that right there is a huge red flag," said Meyer.
He added that the biggest red flag, however, is dealing with a seller who wants to make the exchange in a back alley.
Investigators are still trying to identify the seller. He was seen driving a green Honda Accord and goes by the name "Randy." Anyone with information regarding the individual is being asked to contact Redlands police.
