Counterfeit Gold ....jeweler discovered RBC Royal Bank is working with police to investigate allegations that one of its branches on Bank Street sold a gold bullion one-ounce bar that turned out to be an elaborate counterfeit.
CBC reported Monday that on Oct. 18, Samuel Tang walked into the bank, located at the corner of Bank Street and First Avenue, to buy a one-ounce gold bar. Tang is a gemologist and jewelry designer who works across the road at Joy Creations. The small bar he was provided looked as if it had come from the Royal Canadian Mint, however, upon closer inspection, it was found to be a fake.
Alex Reeves, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mint, said experts from the federal agency have inspected the bar in question and found it to be a rather elaborate fake. Reeves said the mint has seen fake coins and bullion in the past; however, they are usually of poor quality. He said that whoever made this counterfeit bar tried to copy an older mint design that is no longer in circulation. He said even the wrapper the bar came in was forged by someone.
Reeves said the bar did not come from the mint. Gold is purified at the mint then immediately used to make coins and bullion, which are sealed in official casings before being sent to distributors. He said the mint is very proud of its reputation as one of the world’s leading refiners of gold and silver in the world and has numerous layers of security in place to prevent counterfeits from making their way into the supply chain.
How RBC ended up with the fake bar is something that Reeves would not speculate about.