Even Jewelry Shop Owners Were Completely Deceived... Gang Passing Plated Silver Necklaces as Pure Gold

<경찰청, Fake Gold Sales Gang Arrest Video Released
Over 60 Million Won Fraud at 8 Gold Shops Nationwide>

A group that plated silver necklaces and sold them as pure gold has been caught.

On the 22nd, the official YouTube channel of the National Police Agency uploaded a video titled "Two Men Visiting a Gold and Silver Shop: Gold... or Not?" In the video, two seemingly ordinary young men visit a gold and silver shop in the Jeonbuk region to sell pure gold necklaces. The shop owner weighed the gold necklaces on a scale, checked their IDs, and seeing no apparent issues, decided to purchase them and handed over cash. The men leisurely arranged the cash on the shop's display counter to verify the amount before calmly leaving the store.

A group selling fake gold necklaces plated with silver at a jewelry store
[Image source: Screenshot from the National Police Agency YouTube]

After the transaction, the shop owner conducted an acid test just in case and then realized he had been scammed. The necklaces, which were thought to be pure gold, were found to be silver. It turned out that these men had plated silver necklaces to create fake gold necklaces and had been committing fraud using this method at gold and silver shops nationwide.

The shop owner immediately reported to the police, who traced the suspects through nearby building CCTV footage and confirmed that they fled by car about 200 meters from the crime scene. After identifying the suspects' vehicle number, the police issued a nationwide alert and found the wanted vehicle an hour later in Nonsan, Chungnam. In urgent cooperation with the Nonsan Police Substation, the police waited along the vehicle’s route and, upon the vehicle stopping at a traffic light, communicated the escape direction via radio and apprehended the suspects. Through this pursuit, the police arrested four suspects in the wanted vehicle. It was revealed that the group had defrauded about 60 million won from eight gold and silver shops.

Since gold and silver differ in weight even if they have the same volume, it is usually difficult to deceive by weight alone, but these suspects matched both the weight and volume exactly to that of gold, suggesting the possibility of organized crime. The police stated, "Similar crimes are being confirmed nationwide," and urged gold and silver shop operators to be especially cautious by conducting acid tests when purchasing precious metals.