Editor’s Note
**Editor’s Note:** This piece highlights a growing concern in Penang’s jewellery trade as staff report near-weekly attempts to pass off counterfeit gold. With gold prices soaring, the article underscores the need for vigilance among buyers and sellers alike.
Penang Jewellery Employee Warns of Weekly Fake Gold Attempts
KUALA LUMPUR: The sharp rise in gold prices over the past decade has also created opportunities for some parties to deceive buyers by selling fake gold.
An employee at a jewellery shop in Penang, Mohammad Hazim Farhan Azmi, said people attempt to sell fake gold or jewellery plated with other metals at the shop where he works almost every week.
“Every week, there are people who come in to sell fake gold, but there are also customers who genuinely do not know that the jewellery they are bringing in is not genuine,” he told Harian Metro recently.
He said the increase in gold prices has prompted more people to sell their gold for cash.
“This has also increased the risk of counterfeit gold being bought and sold in the market. Although the majority of customers are honest, cases like these remain worrying because they can undermine consumer confidence and cause losses to traders who do not have adequate testing equipment,” he said.
Detection Methods and Challenges
When asked about his experience dealing with counterfeit gold, he said most cases involved solid jewellery rather than hollow pieces.
“The fake gold is plated with a thicker layer of gold to deceive buyers. When we conduct an acid test, it passes as genuine gold. It even passes a magnet test. If gold buyers are not aware of this, they may end up purchasing the jewellery at the price of genuine gold,” he said.
Farhan said his shop would first cut open jewellery suspected of being counterfeit to inspect its core before deciding whether to buy it.
“If the inside is still gold in colour, we will repeat the acid and magnet tests. However, if the core is not made of gold, even if it passes the initial tests, we will immediately reject the jewellery,” he said.
Farhan said the process of detecting counterfeit gold does not take long and can usually be completed within two to five minutes.
“It is easy to check if the trader has experience and the basic equipment. We usually use a nitric acid test, a magnet, an inspection of the hallmark and a manual density test to verify the purity of the gold. However, the hallmark on jewellery should not be regarded as conclusive because many counterfeit gold items now carry fake purity hallmarks,” he said.
He added that if there was still any doubt, the shop would seek further verification from another jewellery shop or a testing centre using an X-ray Fluorescence machine.
Advice for Consumers
Farhan also advised the public to purchase gold only from premises with a physical shop and an established reputation.
“If buying online, make sure the seller genuinely exists and is offering a reasonable price. If the price is unrealistically low, that is an early sign that it could be a scam. If you are buying jewellery from a private individual, it is best to take the item to a jewellery shop for inspection before making payment to avoid financial loss,” he said.
