A private plane found with more than $5m (£4m) in cash, fake gold, guns and ammunition on board is at the centre of a deepening investigation in the Zambian capital, Lusaka.
The Precious Minerals Marketing Company Limited (PMMC) has warned of rising incidence of gold scam in the country and cautions the public to beware.
According to PMMC, the gold scammers usually present fake photos and videos of gold available for sale.
“Some of them eventually turn out to be gold-plated tungsten,” the PMMC said in a statement.
The fraudsters are able to convince their victims to provide huge amounts for the purposes of transporting the gold from the mining sites or specific locations to Accra for a sale transaction.
Transportation
“Once the money for the supposed transportation of the gold is received by the scammers, various excuses are now given as reasons for their failure to deliver the gold to Accra.
The scammers use these excuses to claim more money to facilitate the delivery of the gold,” the statement said.
In addition to this, the scammers also export some gram or a kilo of gold, purposely to win the confidence and trust of their victims and also to prove their capacity to supply larger quantities.
Once the victim’s trust is won, demands for huge sums of money are made after which the fraudsters disappear, leaving their victims frustrated.
Scammers
The statement advised the public and individuals interested in the purchase of gold to be cautious and not to fall prey to the fraudulent schemes of the scammers.
Prospective gold buyers have been encouraged to conduct due diligence to ensure that they are getting value for money.
“At all times the usual caveat emptor precautions should be adhered to,” the statement added.
The statement signed by the Managing Director of the PMMC, Nana Akwasi Awuah, advised prospective gold buyers to contact PMMC, the only recognised national assayer, to supervise their gold purchase transactions.
In recent years, it has been home to a multibillion-dollar industry which, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, accounts for nearly half of the country’s exports.
But this rich resource has also attracted a network of scammers who, posing as legitimate gold traders, dupe buyers out of their money.
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