June 2026 - Week 4 Edition
With Gold Over $4,000, Beware of Ever-More-Creative Gold Scammers
Even though the price of gold declined in June, the fact that it remains above $4,000 per ounce is bringing in more buyers and, unfortunately, a new army of gold scammers. In particular, the Epoch Times has reported a growing wave of gold-related scams that target vulnerable individuals, especially retirees. One of the most insidious examples is scammers posing as government officials (via phone, email or regular mail) demanding “urgent action” concerning alleged identity theft while coercing any potential victim to buy “private” gold or silver and arranging for a courier to collect the coins for “safe storage.”
The scammer invariably discourages potential victims from contacting any authorities, or their bank or financial advisor, but instead urges them to place orders for a “private” transaction. In one example, an elderly Arizona man (age 79) was urged to buy $180,000 in gold coins at a local coin shop but thankfully, an ethical and experienced coin shop owner spotted this as a fraud and alerted the police. The FBI and other agencies moved in, arresting a suspect who had already stolen $100,000 in gold coins from this retiree.
Others are not so lucky, as the FBI warns that losses from these scams have cost investors over $186 million since May 2023. Most callers hang up on them, but to make a big score, they only need one in 100 – or even 1 in 1,000 – to fall for their well-rehearsed script about identity theft.
Please be very suspicious of any cold call about gold, even if it comes from a person claiming to be a federal official. True government officials shouldn’t be calling you to purchase gold or silver and they would never use “urgent” or threatening language, especially in a first contact. A true government request would be printed on official government stationery through the United States Postal Service and would provide a way to contact a real local government office for verification of their identity, or their authority.
These scammers rely on their threatening tone – plus the naivete or innate suspicions of many investors – to force them to follow orders but we urge you to ignore them or at least check with the authorities or the SEC to verify their credentials. The scammers will urge you to “avoid contacting banks or authorities” but that is a clear signal of their fraudulent intentions. Above all, don’t share any of your personal or financial details with strangers, including your home address, email address, cell phone number, bank routing numbers, Social Security numbers or any other details about your net worth or personal holdings.
Be sure you only buy certified gold and silver coins from a reputable dealer with a long-term track record of satisfied customers and from dealers who are widely recognized with awards in their industry. We are proud to be among the national leaders for reliable product selection – and are experts in spotting fraud and counterfeit coins and bars, which unfortunately are growing in number, as gold remains in a long-term bull market.
Honored To Receive Prestigious Award For An Anti-Fraud, Anti-Counterfeit Column
Throughout my career, I have received a number of awards but when a column I wrote was chosen for 1st place honors from the local Press Club of Southeast Texas, it was a genuine surprise.
My column about counterfeit goods flowing in from China, entitled “China Continues to Profit from Counterfeit Culture that Jeopardizes Safety and Economy,” was written because of the issues I had seen throughout the coin industry but once I began my research, I learned just how prolific the problem was.
I share this honor with my team of experts, Stacey Stegall, Trent Roberts, Michael Stubbs and Jerry Jordan, who helped provide much of the research.
Anti-counterfeiting has been a long-time specialty of mine. For almost 20 years, I taught at national grading and counterfeit detection seminars for the American Numismatic Association (ANA) and in 2021, was named the ANA Dealer of the Year. I have also received the Al Kreuzer Award from the National Coin and Bullion Association and, in 2016 & 2024, the Sol Kaplan Award from the Professional Numismatists Guild for my efforts to stop numismatic crime and counterfeit coin sales. I say this only to establish my credentials regarding the quality of our service. You should only buy precious metals from dealers who have been recognized as experts by their peers, so that you know they have the expertise to spot and reject counterfeit coin offers.
I was also on the Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force. Here’s an example of what we did. Recently, we were warned about a website selling counterfeit coins. The site was offering a 38-piece American Silver Eagle NGC MS69 set of all dates (1986-2022). The website included the name of a prominent dealer, who did not give the advertiser permission to use their company name. The coins in question and the NGC holders were counterfeit as the set was being offered at below the silver spot price and at a fraction of what a genuine set of MS69 gem coins would cost. The site has now been removed, probably due to our actions.
In another example, I examined a set of American Silver Eagle coins for the family of a deceased pastor in our area. All of the coins were counterfeits, containing no silver. This was a pastor without much money to invest. There has to be a special place in hell for those who rip off a pastor’s family. When investing, stick with someone who knows how to spot and reject any counterfeit products.
Just a week ago, my team stumbled across another website emulating the U.S. Mint and selling what it promised to be American Silver Eagle and American Gold Eagle coins, much cheaper than they are sold at the Mint. Our lawmakers must get this problem under control because, as you have read, it is collectively costing people hundreds of millions of dollars. Please do not fall for scam websites promising to sell you coins at bargain prices. Just because Christmas in July is around the corner doesn’t change the fact that there’s no Santa Claus in numismatics. Don’t get scammed.
Is the U.S. Dollar Really “Strong” Now? Not Exactly!
Many financial journals and cable TV outlets are proudly boasting of a “strong” U.S. dollar, since the dollar reached a 15-month high this week, as measured by the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY). The DXY reached 101.4, up from 96 in January and slightly above its founding value of 100 in 1973.
Does that mean the dollar is strong or has “held its value” for the last 53 years? Not quite. Currencies are valued relative to each other, not gold. All currencies have fallen in gold terms, by a huge amount, and the DXY dollar index has swung wildly from an overvalued 165 in 1985 to an undervalued 70.7 in 2008.
Also, we need to remember that the DXY index is limited to America’s leading trading partners in the 1970s. Since the birth of the Euro in 1999, there have been no changes in its weighting or composition.
Even though the dollar has fallen and risen in great arcs, the dollar has lost 99% to gold, and 88% in purchasing power since 1971, when the price of gold was fixed at $35 an ounce. Also, over 77% of the DXY Dollar Index is composed of European currencies, with only the Japanese yen and Canadian dollar breaking the European monopoly. Notable absences in the index are the currencies of our current top trading partners, in terms of the Chinese yuan or Mexican peso. Both of those currencies are up over 3% to the U.S. Dollar in 20226, while the DXY is up 3% this year, as measured against the relatively weaker euro, yen, pound and other currencies within the DXY index.
This composition is fixed, as the DXY index is more of a historical artifact than a balanced index of global currencies and it doesn’t measure any of these currencies against gold or other commodities.
As America approaches its 250th birthday next month, we should also remember that the first mass printing of a U.S. dollar was created in July of 1776. It was called the “Continental” dollar, and it was highly inflationary, causing the U.S. to charter only gold or silver for our dollar-based coins after 1792.
Gold is down 9% so far in June but crude oil is down 16% and silver is off 18%, so the commodity sector is temporarily retreating in price, mostly due to hopes of a lasting ceasefire in the Iran conflict and concerns that the Federal Reserve could possibly raise interest rates. Bitcoin is also off 16% and most stock indexes are down, too. The blue-chip S&P 500 index is down over 3% so far in June and the NASDAQ is down 5%. Only the Dow Jones index is slightly up (+1%) in June. The silver lining is that we should see a significant decline in the June Producer Price Index, released in mid-July.
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