GoldQuestions
Avoiding gold and silver scams (UK)
Bullion is valuable, portable, and outside FCA regulation, so buyers need to recognise fake metal, cloned dealers, pressure selling, and below-spot bait.
Last reviewed: 2026-06-24
Short answer
Physical gold and silver are favourite fraud targets because they are valuable, portable, and sit outside the FCA regulatory perimeter. If a bullion deal goes wrong, there is usually no Financial Ombudsman or FSCS safety net. Most scams reduce to a few patterns: fake or underweight metal, prices that look impossibly cheap, cold-callers pushing overpriced coins, cloned dealer websites, and storage promises that cannot be verified. A few basic checks stop many of them.
Why bullion attracts scammers
The FCA does not regulate buying and selling physical precious metals. Reputable dealers still have legal duties, including anti-money-laundering checks on larger or higher-risk transactions, but the core protection is buyer diligence. Precious metals also have a live reference price, which makes below-spot bait easy to dress up as an urgent bargain. A buyer should slow down whenever the seller tries to move attention away from weight, purity, provenance, dealer identity, payment trail, or buyback terms.
The common cons
Common scams include counterfeit coins and bars, tungsten-cored gold bars, plated or underweight products, fake assay packaging, and private sellers who disappear after payment. Another pattern is the boiler-room sale of real but wildly overpriced rare, investment-grade, or limited-edition coins. Cloned dealer websites copy branding from legitimate firms and use lookalike domains. Storage scams promise allocated metal without audit evidence, serial numbers, insurance detail, or a clear way to inspect or withdraw the holding.
Red flags that should stop you
A price at or below spot value is the biggest warning sign. Genuine retail bullion normally sells at a premium above spot because minting, refining, dealing, insurance, delivery, and business costs need to be covered. Other stop signs include pressure to act today, unsolicited calls or social-media approaches, bank transfer or crypto only, no verifiable UK address, vague answers on purity and weight, no Companies House trail, poor documentation, and storage arrangements the buyer cannot independently verify.
How to buy safely
Use established dealers with a real trading history, a verifiable UK presence, clear contact details, and independent reviews. Check Companies House details and be wary of only trusting testimonials on the seller site. Compare any quote against the live spot price plus a normal premium. Pay traceably and keep invoices showing weight, purity, product name, date, price, and dealer details. For any meaningful value, check dimensions, weight, packaging, hallmarks where relevant, and consider professional testing before relying on a private sale. Start small with a new dealer before committing larger sums, and make sure the payment account name matches the verified business rather than an unrelated individual.
Dealer and storage checks
A genuine dealer should be able to explain product source, purity, weight, delivery insurance, return process, and buyback terms without evasive answers. For stored metal, ask whether the holding is allocated, whether serial numbers or bar lists are available, who insures the metal, how often audits happen, and what the withdrawal process costs. Weak answers do not always prove fraud, but they do mean the risk is not understood well enough to send money.
If you are targeted
Walk away from pressure. Genuine dealers do not need a buyer to decide in the next ten minutes. If money has been sent, preserve screenshots, invoices, bank details, messages, phone numbers, tracking information, and website addresses. Fraud can be reported to Action Fraud, and suspicious investment-style promotions can be checked against FCA ScamSmart. Reporting is still useful even when no money was lost because it helps identify cloned sites and repeat approaches.
Key points
Physical bullion is not FCA-regulated. A below-spot price is usually bait, not a bargain. Watch for cold calls, cloned websites, transfer-only payment, vague product details, and unverifiable storage. Buy from established, traceable dealers, pay through documented routes, keep paperwork, and test higher-value or uncertain metal. This guide is educational only and does not recommend specific dealers or investments.
Educational disclaimer
This guide is educational only and is not financial, investment, tax, legal, or personal advice.
FAQs
Is buying physical gold regulated in the UK?
No. The FCA does not regulate the buying and selling of physical gold and silver, so buyers usually cannot rely on the Ombudsman or FSCS if a deal goes wrong.
What's the single biggest red flag?
A price clearly below the metal's spot value. Real bullion almost always sells at a premium above spot.
How do I check a dealer is genuine?
Look for a long trading history, a real UK address and phone number, Companies House details, independent reviews, and clear invoices, then start with a small order.