Spotting fake gold sale posts on LinkedIn

Social networks make it cheap to clone logos, invent "refinery director" titles, and message hundreds of buyers with photo-shopped bars and warehouse shots. Profiles are new, connections are bought, and the pitch is urgency plus discount.

Real wholesale gold rarely starts with a cold InMail offering 50 kg at 8% below spot with "ready to ship CIF tomorrow."

Stock photos of bars with no serial detail, recycled assay certificates, or SKRs that cannot be independently confirmed. Pressure to move to WhatsApp immediately and avoid video calls at a known facility.

Requests that you pay "export tax," "security escort," or "airport storage" to a personal account before seeing product. Requests for your passport, blank invitation letters, or bank instruments "only for show."

Company websites younger than the claimed multi-decade history, no physical address you can verify, or names that closely mimic well-known firms.

They publish a real address, named contacts, and a clear buying procedure. They ask for KYC because banks and regulators require it. Pricing is quote-based. Delivery terms are FOB, CIF, or insured escorted logistics with paperwork that matches the metal.

They can explain their licence framing, assay method, and export path without rushing you into a deposit on a private number.

Do not send funds or documents to the cold contact. Independently open the corporate site of any company named, call the published number, and ask for the export desk. Compare the LinkedIn story with what the company actually offers.

Diamond Capital Africa publishes how buying works, including FOB Kampala and CIF Dubai for real institutional orders. Start there, or contact Tom on the numbers listed on this website, not through a random profile that claims to "represent" us without introduction.