Gold shops beware as foreigner and Thai girlfriend pass off copper as gold

PATTAYA:-- A Pattaya gold shop owner was swindled out of 40,000 baht this week when a foreigner with a Thai girl sold him copper instead of gold.

It was the first time ever that anyone had got the better of Kitti Prasongsuthiporn, owner of the Duan Pen shop in Soi Bua Khao but he hopes that CCTV footage will help track down the thieves.

The couple strolled into the shop last Sunday with the 31 gram ingot and after an initial assessment of its value left the shop. They returned 30 minutes later when a heat treatment process was carried out on the gold, with an Australian branding, to the satisfaction of all concerned.

Some 40,200 was handed over and the couple went on their way. It was only two days later when Kitti took all his gold to another shop that it was discovered with more precise testing to be copper with a thick layer of real gold covering.



Kitti said yesterday it was the first time in his career that this had happened to him. He was surprised that it was a foreigner who had done it and warned other gold shops in the area to be on the lookout.

He reported the matter to Pattaya police who have the help of a clear image of the couple from CCTV in the shop to help with their enquiries.

-- 2016-04-09

Loads of tourists have been cheated by the Thai gold/jewelry shops. It has been on national tv filmed with hidden camera's. It was also showed to the Thai police and they did totally nothing, suddenly the officer run away while questioned.

So i guess it's payback time now.

Makes a change to hear some good news......as Thian said, payback time....

Clever gold shop owner......payback for the fraud these shops have been known to commit with farang and Thai alike!

Gold is twice the weight of copper.

Just saying, like.

So the Goldsmith payed 1297b per gram. Was that a fair price had it been real?

clearly a crime and criminals should be punished.

however, if you're going to open a gold shop make sure you have basic knowledge of the product your dealing with.

I'd say that's close to the normal price for gold, a little below at current rate, but that should make it around 19,500 per baht, so he probably thought he was getting a good deal.

Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk

Years and years ago I bought 10 10b ingots in Bangkok s Chinatowne at a Goldsmith my friend used. Never paid attension to them so was curious what they would be worth now....I see the prices at gold shops but they can be a bit confusing....The third price thats on the sign is what they will pay for ingot gold???

at this stage how can Kitti Prasongsuthiporn be sure the foreigner himself was unaware that he was carrying around the counterfeit bar of gold ?

That's a pretty elaborate hoax for 1000 dollars. I would assume the seller had no idea it was copper coated in gold

Loads of tourists have been cheated by the Thai gold/jewelry shops. It has been on national tv filmed with hidden camera's. It was also showed to the Thai police and they did totally nothing, suddenly the officer run away while questioned.

So i guess it's payback time now.

As the majority of their customers are locals I very much doubt your claim that Thai gold shops cheat tourists, unless you have a link?

Edited April 9, 201610 yr by Scouse Twoccer

Clever gold shop owner......payback for the fraud these shops have been known to commit with farang and Thai alike!

What fraud have "these [gold] shops" been committing?

Loads of tourists have been cheated by the Thai gold/jewelry shops. It has been on national tv filmed with hidden camera's. It was also showed to the Thai police and they did totally nothing, suddenly the officer run away while questioned.

So i guess it's payback time now.

As the majority of their customers are locals I very much doubt your claim that Thai gold shops cheat tourists, unless you have a link?

I have a full documentary from an hour long about it, all filmed with hidden camera...but for you i won't post it.

clearly a crime and criminals should be punished.

however, if you're going to open a gold shop make sure you have basic knowledge of the product your dealing with.

Or, make sure that the equipment that you buy to conduct the tests wasn't made by a crumby western (Australian) company.

Probaly the seller has been scammed himself , just goes around in circles.

Loads of tourists have been cheated by the Thai gold/jewelry shops. It has been on national tv filmed with hidden camera's. It was also showed to the Thai police and they did totally nothing, suddenly the officer run away while questioned.

So i guess it's payback time now.

As the majority of their customers are locals I very much doubt your claim that Thai gold shops cheat tourists, unless you have a link?

I have a full documentary from an hour long about it, all filmed with hidden camera...but for you i won't post it.

Pretty sure that you haven't got a documentary about fraudulent Thai gold shops but you know how to prove me wrong. As things stand right now I think you are wrong and posting it won't be for me, it will be for your own credibility, such as it is.

That's a pretty elaborate hoax for 1000 dollars. I would assume the seller had no idea it was copper coated in gold

Likely the Thai woman was clueless and the foreign man put her up to making the sale.

He may or may not have known it was fake. It looks like the gold is from another country by the English wording and what appears to be Roman numerals.

A fake he brought to pawn off in Thailand or what he thought was a hard asset to finance his stay.

If it fooled the shop keeper so he may have bought it in good faith as well.

3 words in both cases

1. If he was an honest gold dealer............I feel sorry.

2. If he was a rogue........som nam naa.

What goes around comes around...

The shop would have asked for id, the Thai lady's especially.

These shoppers would/should always demand full ID. Looks like somebody has gone to a lot of trouble to start with. Buyer Beware.

Years and years ago I bought 10 10b ingots in Bangkok s Chinatowne at a Goldsmith my friend used. Never paid attension to them so was curious what they would be worth now....I see the prices at gold shops but they can be a bit confusing....The third price thats on the sign is what they will pay for ingot gold???

The two highest prices are the sell/buy prices for ingots. The third price, usually much lower, is the price for gold jewellery that would be melted back down to gold ingots.

If you still have them, you're sitting on 2 miilion baht approx.

I am in the gold business.. Theres chinese companies now openly selling tungsten coated bars and coins..

As fr Mr gold shop owner.. He entered into a free trade, he should have been sure of what he was purchasing.. Costs of doing business.

Copper is not magnetic, nor is gold.

So the Goldsmith payed 1297b per gram. Was that a fair price had it been real?

Looks slightly low. There are 15.2 grams to 1 Baht

Troll post in giant fonts removed

I am in the gold business.. Theres chinese companies now openly selling tungsten coated bars and coins..

As fr Mr gold shop owner.. He entered into a free trade, he should have been sure of what he was purchasing.. Costs of doing business.

Do you know where I can get the best price for nugget gold?

I am in the gold business.. Theres chinese companies now openly selling tungsten coated bars and coins..

As fr Mr gold shop owner.. He entered into a free trade, he should have been sure of what he was purchasing.. Costs of doing business.

There is something not right with this story as any experience gold trader would automatically notice that the weight and volume did not match that of gold as copper has approx half the specific mass.

Tungsten or uranium would be good substitutes as both have similar specific masses however I suspect uranium would be more expensive than gold and over time, you may get more shine than you expected.

Years and years ago I bought 10 10b ingots in Bangkok s Chinatowne at a Goldsmith my friend used. Never paid attension to them so was curious what they would be worth now....I see the prices at gold shops but they can be a bit confusing....The third price thats on the sign is what they will pay for ingot gold???

enter any shop and you will find out soon enough, hey ??