+++ (k)A guide to money laundering+++ or: Don't be afraid of the AMLA when trading precious metals +++

(from the series: Your question about precious metals; Knowledge makes Ah!)

No topic divides and excites minds more than the purchase of precious metals and the possible identification of buyers.

(Unfortunately, I too was too easily disturbed last weekend by one of the misconceptions on the subject that I constantly encountered in my everyday life as a precious metals dealer, sorry about that!
)

From reporting obligations to authorities, from registrations with Papa State to obligations to provide proof I and my colleagues in the industry encounter these and other hair-raising horror stories based on Orwell's 1984 model on a daily basis.

However, this article is about the fact that things are a little different and that everything is only half as hot as it is often made out to be.

TL;DR:
The Money Laundering Act is the "Act on the Tracing of Profits from Serious Crimes". It contains various instruments of surveillance, but in the case of precious metal purchases it is less focused on individual persons and their investments, but serves as a means of monitoring "dirty money".

Warning: long reading time. Get yourself a glass of water. The topic is dry, but I'll try to spice it up as usual and write in a digestible way.

What is the Money Laundering Act?

The national Money Laundering Act (GwG for short) of the Federal Republic of Germany has the unwieldy name: "Law on the Tracing of Profits from Serious Crimes". Money laundering within the meaning of this law is a criminal offense according to §261 StGB [Source 1].

The Act also explains the concept of terrorist financing and the effect of bowing in accordance with the Criminal Code and the European Framework Decisions on the Prevention of Terrorist Financing.

Brief outline of the history of the Money Laundering Act:

The history of the AMLA goes back some 40 years. The first legal steps were taken in the USA in 1986 with the "Money Laundering Control Act", which included the criminal offense of money laundering for the first time.

In Europe, the same was done with the first EC Money Laundering Directive in 1991 (91/308/EEC). This is also where the history of German case law on the prevention of money laundering begins. Because it is on this, and here it will be decisive for later, that every other national strategy for the prevention of money laundering in the Federal Republic of Germany is based.

In 1997, the European Council launched the second directive on the prevention of money laundering, which created common measures and investigation levels on a supranational basis.

In 2019 and subsequently, the existing directives were tightened up, specifically targeting the issue of terrorist financing. This was the fifth revision of the current money laundering guidelines to date and, since 2020, has given the administrative supervisory authority at EU level far-reaching direct supervisory powers as well as coordination and support measures.

How to launder money...

It depends very much on the nature of the bills and coins. Plastic is easier to wash by hand than cotton bills... but only at 60 degrees. A quick joke on the side... of course, this is only partly about the washing itself. But in fact, "washing money" comes very close to cleaning, the removal of dirt from money. The dirt is a corresponding criminal offense, whether predatory or extortionate, through illegal activities such as human trafficking, smuggling, illegal prostitution, illegal gambling, tax evasion, illegal employment or funds acquired in other illegal ways, which are obtained by introducing them into the financial system (cashless or cash is irrelevant here) is not identifiable and is therefore apparently laundered. Once in circulation, this money can no longer be clearly traced to its origin. If the associated documents, such as receipts or other evidence (in the form of witnesses or evidence of previous crimes) then disappear, the goal of "laundering money" has been achieved. It is estimated that over 100 billion euros are laundered every year in Germany alone. [Source 2]

White laundry can turn black...

And before you know it, you're suddenly washing money yourself. How is that possible?

The offenses mentioned in excerpts above are undisputed. They are obvious and understandable for people. Nevertheless, it can also happen to you as a person to be quickly drawn into the cycle of money laundering.

All companies and private individuals are interesting targets for money launderers. Eating out in a restaurant while CrystalMeth is being cooked in the back room (but even a cook who is not registered for social security is enough)? Taking part in legal sports betting while Mr. X bets on Darmstadt becoming German champions at the next counter and goes all-in with the proceeds from the burglary at the weekend? Have a company where the latest customer pays twice the price for your product, as long as the deal goes through quickly and quietly? The lawyer from Fantasialand transfers €10,000 to your account, you get to keep €1,000, but the rest should go to a Swiss numbered account?

All these somewhat exaggerated cases show: You too can become part of money laundering with your money and probably already have.

Many of us are likely to come into contact with the topic of money laundering and its prevention at work, whether knowingly or unknowingly. Who knows that even the cashiers at the supermarket checkout have to be sensitive to this issue? Try paying cash for €15,000.01 at REWE...

Whether it's the car trade, buying and selling in retail or wholesale, banks, buying real estate, consulting or investment advice - there is no area that is not affected or endangered by money laundering. And it is often not the usual suspects, but also the inconspicuous, almost everyday transactions. This is where the money-laundering dark figures are often able to operate unhindered and away from any government scrutiny.

The economic damage and other effects of money laundering...

...is documented with a wide variety of figures. At European level, it is estimated that money laundering causes damage amounting to 1% of the EU's economic output (equivalent to approx. 140 billion euros) each year. The German treasury loses around 14 billion euros every year in connection with money laundering and sales tax evasion. [Source 3]

It is therefore quite possible to speak of a risk and loss for states and their populations. These funds are missing for investments and healthcare systems or simply for ordinary citizens.

Corruption is a major issue when it comes to money laundering. Whether in politics, civil servants or employees or decision-makers in financial companies and in the awarding of contracts - all of these people are targets and results of money laundering.

The stability of the financial sector is also at risk due to the rampant money laundering activity. Banks or listed companies quickly find themselves in uncertain waters as soon as money laundering takes root in the respective institution.

Loss of reputation, legal risk and operational risk are all associated with money laundering for companies.

The penalties for money laundering...

... can be described as severe in view of the damage to the state, companies and not least the general public that has just been briefly highlighted.

Personal prison sentences of 3 to 5 years, in serious cases even up to 10 years in prison, can be imposed. In addition, there are fines of up to €150,000 plus compensation for the damage caused or confiscation of other (also legal) assets. [Source 4]

Attention: Even as an employee in a company, a violation of the AMLA or even active involvement in money laundering does not protect against personal liability. In such cases, e.g. the banker, the salesperson, the cashier is personally liable to a judge (up to 2 years imprisonment for recklessly assisted money laundering). In addition to the consequences under labor law and their compensation. This is also the reason why salaried professionals have a vested interest in observing all legal requirements (training and intellectual aptitude provided).

Companies are therefore constantly required, and even obliged in the financial sector, to carry out and provide evidence of regular training on the updated AMLA and its regulations.

But how does this affect me?

Each and every one of us has already been screened at least once in our lives in connection with money laundering. Simply opening an account or custody account triggers the internal process of verification in accordance with the applicable AMLA guidelines at your bank or broker.

Special feature: This all happens before you have even paid a single euro cent into your account or custody account. Banks are subject to the strictest guidelines regarding the control and prevention of illegal activities.

Time and again you read of astonished reactions, also on Getquin, when TradeRepublic suddenly wants to know the origin of the funds. This is also an important part of the money laundering prevention process. This procedure is part of a step-by-step plan. When the account is opened, the personal data is checked against public registers and possible overlaps in databases. This comparison analyzes the likelihood of a MLA case.

As soon as certain thresholds are reached in the course of the business relationship (for brokers, for example, these are around €10,000) are exceeded, your broker must then collect and store additional information. Among other things, this includes the obligation to provide evidence of the source of funds (e.g. salary, inheritance, profit etc.).).

Basically, the inquiry has nothing to do with yourself, the suspicion of criminal acts or the excessive interest of the state. It is simply another mechanism to protect against money laundering and its consequences.

The state monitors your gold purchases and the tax office knows about your gold purchases...

Yes, exactly! And I, as a precious metal dealer, am an undercover employee of the tax office and have to report all transactions to the tax office.

That is, of course, absolute nonsense and complete madness.

There's no denying that the Money Laundering Act can be a pain in the neck and seems like a bureaucratic monster.

As a precious metals dealer, I would gladly do without it, but I have to recognize that the rules of the game should apply to all of us. Why should I support tax evaders, human traffickers and terrorists in their work? Where is my benefit? Since it is not there, I am sticking to the given rules of the game. I would like to go into these in more detail after all the preamble.

Basically, when buying precious metals and the MLA, a distinction must be made between buying from your trusted precious metal dealer and from a banking institution.

For reasons of clarity, I will focus on buying or trading from a precious metal dealer, but I will also mention the differences between banks here and there.

Please note:
The following text will be even duller than the previous lines. "But please don't kill the messenger..." - I can't help the dry and bleak reality...

The table business

If you want to buy precious metals in Germany up to €1,999.99 in cash, you can do so from your trusted dealer completely anonymously and without proof. It makes no difference whether you buy 30x 1g of gold or 1 ounce of Krugerrand or 64 ounces of silver (as of today, these sales are below the threshold value). These purchases are anonymous. [Source 5]

If you buy this value from one dealer and show up at another dealer tomorrow, it will be hard to blame you, but the moment you read these lines, you know that this is actually not what the legislator intended. What you do with this information is up to you and your conscience.

As a dealer, however, I generally don't find it funny if you turn up a few hours later, tomorrow or in the next few days and claim to have seen me for the first time. As a rule, all precious metal dealers have at least 2 eyes and a memory. We also recognize people, even if they are wearing a hat or have a fake moustache stuck to their face... always remember: the consequences and penalties are described above.

Colleagues like doing their job and certainly want to have their loved ones around them in the years to come. The few euros we earn on the margin certainly don't justify questioning my integrity and responsibility.

The purchase of precious metals (whether gold, silver, platinum, palladium...) is therefore possible up to this threshold value without recording personal data (table transaction). The exception here is trading via the bank. As already learned above: Identification takes place here before the first euro, so all transactions that you regulate via the bank are also recorded.

However, the law does not regulate at any point how many times or in which time periods anonymous purchases are possible. A different principle applies here....

The know-your-customer principle:

The KYC principle requires merchants to "get to know their customers". This knowledge includes the full name, place of residence and address, dates of birth and, above certain thresholds, the financial background, i.e. the origin of the assets and possibly proof of their origin.

The KYC is an elementary component of the Money Laundering Act. Transparency in the sense of the exclusion of suspicion is the motto.

The KYC must always be applied if either the threshold value for transactions (i.e. when buying precious metals from €2,000) is exceeded with a transaction or the "relationship between the business partners is designed to be permanent", i.e. you become a regular customer.

The KYC is also accompanied by threshold values. The first step only involves recording personal data (name, address, date of birth). This is followed by loose information about the purpose of the transaction (i.e. investment in the case of EM purchases); proof of the origin of the assets (e.g. via bank statement) and finally even proof of the origin of the assets (e.g. sales contract, notary contract which declares the credit balance to be your bank statement). Once recorded and plausibly justified for the dealer, you are free to trade for at least one year (Dealers are required to keep their data up to date - so you will be asked again at some point...).

So the state and the tax office do find out about my purchases...

One thing is quite clear and without any other "ifs and buts": No!

Under no circumstances will this recorded data be sent to the tax office, nor will a report be made on how much Mr. Goldheinz has just acquired. Up to this point in time NO comparison with any databases or documents takes place.

To put it briefly: The state and the tax office are not interested in you at all (at least in this matter). How important do you think you are and how underemployed do you think the people at the tax office are? How paranoid do you want to be?

The precious metal dealer is also not an auxiliary policeman or a spy from the BKA. The dealer is first and foremost a businessman or businesswoman.

We want to earn money. Not at any price, but within the law. And one thing is clear here (as of 29.02.2024): There is no law that requires the retailer to report the purchase data to any authority, nor is there any authority or link to any database or branch office of the tax office. On the contrary: If I were to do this, I would be violating my commercial duty and data protection.

In terms of the Money Laundering Act, we are talking here about a "recording obligation", but not a "reporting obligation" - as long as you and I follow the rules of the KYC and AMLA.

If you don't give me as a trader the vibes and the impression of a criminal, I'll do my utmost to get you or myself into any complications.

If necessary, I will record the necessary data, save it and destroy it after the statutory retention period. Nobody has to know anything. Nobody finds out anything without justification or as part of criminal proceedings.

The myth of the omniscient state may be partly true for certain countries and also in Germany in some situations. Germany is a developing country when it comes to money laundering laws and "curiosity" in precious metal trading. More on this below...

But what if "we" have a suspicious case?

As soon as we have a reasonable suspicion that someone is smurfing (i.e. splitting gold transactions into many small transactions in order to conceal the true extent of the total amount) or, in the case of large purchases, suddenly no information about the origin ("Eh buddy, you live in Germany - if you had large sums in your bank account and had them paid out, at least the bank knows about the money") of your assets or become entangled in contradictions here - a "recording obligation" will soon become a "reporting obligation" in the sense of a suspicious activity report.

Suspicious activity report equals criminal proceedings?

No. A suspicious transaction report is first and foremost just a process that traders initiate to inform a suitable monitoring body in the company (compliance department) or the authorities (FIU) of a suspicious transaction. The first step is not about the person themselves, but about the transaction. In the course of the review, however, the connection with the person is of course also checked.

However, the report is never sent directly to the tax office. Instead, a report is submitted to the central office for financial transactions, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU for short): FIU) and thus reported. [Source 6]

The FIU is a functional authority and is located in the General Customs Directorate. The suspicious activity reports received there are analyzed and forwarded to the competent law enforcement, tax and administrative authorities by means of an analysis report, provided that the FIU has previously determined that the reported suspicious transaction could actually be connected to a case of money laundering, terrorist financing or other serious crime. However, the FIU does not act as a criminal authority, but only as an aid.

Here too... the purchases of the average citizen are absolutely irrelevant. Come to terms with the fact that as long as you are not the chairman or chairwoman of the Panzerknacker, a black marketeer or other creep, you appear to be absolutely irrelevant and unimportant to the authorities.

Important: Just because "I" as a trader report a transaction does not make it relevant to criminal law or tantamount to money laundering proceedings. However, the legislator encourages those obliged to report (in the context of suspicious transactions) to submit one report too many and does not penalize them for a misjudgement. If this turns out to be "unfounded", not everything is just as clean, but there is nothing to directly prevent a further business relationship. In principle, there is a blocking period of a few days after the suspicious activity report has been submitted. If there is no indication from the FIU during this period, it can be assumed that the business is "clean". This procedure also has its critics, as the FIU is generally considered to be overburdened. [Source 7]

Of course, the decision to carry out the transaction ultimately rests with the trader. In the worst case, he is ultimately liable with his freedom and assets.

Selling precious metals anonymously to dealers in a spot transaction...

...has not existed for several years. The reason for this is §143 of the German Fiscal Code, according to which commercial traders must declare the incoming goods (i.e. the precious metal that you sell to the dealer) must be recorded separately. The process itself has nothing to do with the Money Laundering Act, but has something to do with tax law, i.e. with the taxation of the entrepreneur himself.

There is an obligation to cooperate, which is regulated by this and other individual standards. In this context, the entrepreneur records the date of receipt of the goods, the name and address of the supplier (customer), the description of the goods and the price. Here too: Absolute disinterest on the part of the state in your person. This process serves the taxation procedure and also the prevention of stolen goods and property offenses. [Source 8]

NoteThe limit for the anonymous sale of precious metals to dealers under €2,000 does not actually exist and does not serve to control gold holders, but is, among other things, a requirement for the dealer to prove his business activities.

However, when you sell gold to a dealer, no data is passed on to any intermediaries or third parties, as is the case with the purchase itself. It is only stored on site and as proof of your own trading activities.

However, when selling gold above certain thresholds, it makes sense to have proof of the origin of the gold ready. This is merely a matter of the obligation to provide evidence of legal ownership and traceability of the origin of assets. As there is no taxation of gold over the holding period of one year, the tax office has no interest in tracing it.

Furthermore, the customer is already identified when the account or bank details are presented and the payment is made to the account at the bank. In this case, the bank carries out the identification in advance. As the sale of the precious metal is cashless and traceable for the authorities (namely by retrieval via the bank transaction), the risk of money laundering can be considered reduced.

And what else?

Anyone who thinks that the Money Laundering Act is particularly strict in Germany must be mistaken. In fact, Germany is the leader in delays and delaying tactics. It is not for nothing that we have been popular with various foreign money launderers for years: whether Italian or Dutch mafia, whether oligarchs or family members of dictators in distant countries... all these people have had an easy time of it in recent years. Real estate, precious metals, cash, cars - nothing was and is safe from them. [Source 9]

It was not for nothing that "we" hesitated in the past to reduce the cash limit from €10,000 or to lower the anonymous table transaction to €1,999.99. Other countries were much further ahead and more restrictive in this respect.

Although the number of suspicious activity reports to the FIU has risen in recent years, these are rather small in relation to the number of transactions carried out.

In 2021, around 4.9 billion transactions were carried out in Germany via POS systems (payment terminals) and around 6.3 million bank transfers were carried out. If we also assume that we still process a large proportion of payments in cash, the number of suspicious activity reports amounting to 337,186 is rather ridiculous. [Source 10]. And what's more... here too, the FIU is simply overwhelmed in some cases, which is reflected in the late responses from those obliged to report.

Incidentally, 97% of reports come directly from the financial sector. However, the reporting volume in the real estate sector in particular has risen sharply since 2020, as regulatory intervention was made here with the AMLO Real Estate. This area of financial transactions was previously a paradise for money laundering.

In France and Italy, the purchase of precious metals is subject to even stricter regulations. For example, purchase contracts must be recorded in writing, cash payments are completely prohibited and customer details are entered in a register, the so-called "livre de police", in France and elsewhere. Furthermore, due to the strict buying and selling regulations, only gold and silver bars with serial numbers can be bought and sold. In Italy, there are even different local rules, as special attention is paid to the local mafia.

Conclusion and moral of the story:

Money laundering is a serious problem in every country in the world. There are countries where money laundering causes great economic damage and has direct consequences for the population. In the EU, various measures have been introduced in recent years to prevent money laundering. The guidelines and instructions are not intended to control the possession of gold or precious metals, but serve the higher purpose of preventing terrorist financing and money laundering in the traditional sense.

Of course, the measures can be described as excessive and overzealous for the majority of the population (after all, very few of them really have anything to do with illegal practices). However, one should have a sense of proportion and awareness of the deep-seated problem and develop a certain understanding for this approach.

As things stand, the state does not do these things in preparation for the banning of gold, nor for the individual observation of an individual. Of course, any kind of state interference (be it a possible ban on cash) must first of all be critically and above all strictly questioned, but very few of us are really the "victims" of any law enforcement authorities in the end, but rather victims and victims of money laundering.

Ultimately, it is the task of everyone involved to prevent this: to avert damage to the state and thus to each and every one of us, because the economic damage is pre-programmed and incalculable when it comes to money laundering.

Sources:

Source 1: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/gwg_2017/

Source 2: https://www.transparency.de/fileadmin/Redaktion/Publikationen/2021/Studie_Geldwa__sche-in-Deutschland_210706.pdf

Source 3: https://www.kreditwesen.de/kreditwesen/themenschwerpunkte/aufsaetze/oekonomische-konsequenzen-geldwaesche-id57794.html

Source 4: https://www.strafrechtsiegen.de/geldwaesche-im-strafrecht-welche-strafen-drohen/

Source 5: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafelgesch%C3%A4ft

Source 6: https://www.zoll.de/DE/FIU/fiu_node.html

Source 7: https://www.bfdi.bund.de/DE/Buerger/Inhalte/Polizei-Strafjustiz/National/FIU.html

Source 8: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ao_1977/__143.html

Source 9: https://www.planet-wissen.de/gesellschaft/verbrechen/organisierte_kriminalitaet/geldwaesche-paradies-deutschland-110.html

Source 10: FIU Jahresbericht 2020, S. 24

This text was written during my daily commute to the office, after work and, last but not least, with great attention to detail. I dedicate this post to all the donkeys, mechanics, financial jugglers, raccoons and every other creature in the Getquin universe. Total words: 3,753 ❤️

#lernen
#learnfinance
#geldwaesche
#gwg
#bildung
#edelmetalle

+++ Too good to be true? 400€ Euro for new customers buying gold! +++

Yes, that's right... a whopping 400€ free when buying gold from 3.000€ or more! And that completely without consideration, with guaranteed rising gold price!

This and even more offers up to 600€, even from 2.500€ gold purchase are currently available at goldbank-münchen.de.

The enterprise is since 1972 a divorce institution and celebrates at present 10 years existence of their Onlineshop.

When buying 3x 20g gold bars with a total value of 3,243€ minus the 400€, you pay only 2,843€ and that with free shipping.

That is an unbeatable 47,38€ per gram. Stock exchange price currently 1.703€ per ounce, so per gram 54,76€. Who does not strike there? Your own fault!

Stop!

Of course I hope that you reading these lines NOT already burned out the line and you bought from greed!

Because today's topic is, despite all the obvious ridiculousness of the discount in the room very serious and can cost many a layman a lot of money.

Fake online stores in the precious metal trade

In the present time of inflation and uncertainties on the financial markets appear again and again (not only recently, but increasingly) fake gold stores appear. These advertise as written above with such ominous offers and thus quickly lure ignorant, greedy, savings foxes or simply uninformed people into the trap and rob you of your money.

The scam is as simple as it is banal. Interested buyers are fished out via heavily reduced prices or offers.

In most cases the price for the offered bars is around 100€ lower than from comparable offers. Here, of course, is played with the low feelings of saving, stinginess and greed for the cheapest offer.

The websites of the fake stores are often professionally designed for the layman. They advertise with keywords like security, SSL encryption, 100% insurance, free shipping, guaranteed prices and last but not least the promised discount.

The providers are often non-European or at least located in other European countries from the criminal milieu.

How does the purchase in a fake precious metal store work?

Registration is very simple. In most cases, a mail address is enough. After that, potential buyers will receive a registration link. No address is needed to start with.

Why is that so? It is probably due to the platform. Most fakeshops are based on a Wordpress templet or Wordpress service. (Yes, that's right, those are the ones with the blogs etc.). The plugin for this is called WP User Registration and requires only a mail address as first step.

After the "account" has been created, you can go shopping.

In our example we buy a 20g bar. NoticeableThere are only bars from 20g gold to buy on the website. But obviously I can buy unlimited 1kg gold bars...

In our example, we buy a 20g bar on a trial basis. We do not want to cause skepticism with the operator / crook.

The ordering process is also very simple. We put the bar into the shopping cart, click through the form for the billing and shipping address (conspicuous here: the forced entry of a phone number, why this is important - more about that later on), accept the [not present here] AGBs and confirm that we want to buy the bar.

At the end of the process, a message appears that an employee of the company will check our order and then contact me soon or I will receive an invoice with account number. So far nothing unusual and absolutely normal in our industry.

After all, you already receive a confirmation of receipt of your order at the store by mail. This is also standard in our industry.

After about an hour, you receive an email with the confirmation and an account number. In our example, the account number leads to an account in Austria at Unicredit Bank Austria.

Apparently, a Florian - Life Finance should be behind it. This is of course not a real account recipient, with the introduction of the IBAN obligation, the control and name matching for transfers was omitted. It could also be Scrooge McDuck as the recipient there, although the safecrackers are the owners of the account.

Also, the account probably belongs to a third, uninvolved person, who either carelessly disclosed their data or possibly unknowingly (and also driven by greed) in this case of money laundering
involved in this case of money laundering.

If you now complete the transfer to the specified account, the fraud has been carried out and you will receive NO goods.

Is this the end of the scam? Not quite... remember the phone number?

You will find dozens of calls on your phone in the next 3-5 days... if you are available on one of these calls, you will receive further "offers", possibly also legal instructions that you have entered into a valid purchase contract, if you e.g. have not transferred the money after a certain period of time... after a certain time you have not transferred the money... At some point you might get a call from a nice policeman, who asks for your help to arrest a mean gang of internet crooks, because they rip off poor people with precious metals... oh wonder, they can help you too! Just now there is a crook around. They want to catch the crooks with your help and cash... in 10 minutes a colleague will come around and borrow your money, you live in the street so and so... (already forgotten?: Your address is from the order...)

Why do the fake stores often only offer bars from 20g, or special collector coins?

Cost-benefit ratio. It often doesn't take long until a fraud with such stores is noticed. As already let shine through at the beginning, such offers are mostly based on Wordpress templates and FreeToHost servers to keep the upfront costs as low as possible. So to be lucrative, we need a minimum amount to be earned in one fell swoop... In the past, there were also offers where 1g or 5g bars of gold were offered, but these were subject to a minimum order amount... these offers however meet with rejection or reservations from many customers. To offer the offer a priori with 100€ cheaper is therefore simply a cost-benefit consideration for the rip-off artists...

How can I recognize fakeshops?

There are, of course, a few ways to track down the crime.

The beginning of a fake check should be the imprint of every store. In Germany (or basically EU area) such a mandatory. The data found here is often misused by the villains and stolen from real stores and website operators. A check on e.g. google.de provides clarity whether addresses, trade registers, tax numbers or telephone numbers belong to the correct provider identified here.

In many fakeshops, at least two different providers are copied together. In our example, the real providers MP-Edelmetalle and Gold Silber Kontor GmbH are affected.

With the HRB (commercial register) the register number is sufficient (here: HRB 120782 B) is sufficient and the google search spits out the real company, Gold Silber Kontor GmbH, e.g. via Northdata. [Source 1]

With many fakeshops you try in vain to get someone on the phone. The reason is quite simple: Most of the time there are several fraud attempts going on at the same time. Dubious, if here suddenly instead of goldbank-münchen.de gold-handel-n.de would suddenly call 😉.

But there is often a callback function via a simple contact form. I promise you: The ladies and gentlemen call 100%!

Everyone knows them today: seals of approval. Especially when buying online, you can find a wide variety of badges like TrustedShops, eKomi, TÜV or "geprüfter Webshop" on the various websites.

All of them have one thing in common: they are supposed to guarantee or safeguard security and safe shopping in online stores. How exactly these seals work and how useful they are, I can gladly explain at another point. For us, only one thing is important in this topic: These seals must be clickable when used. clickable and must lead to the correct the right offer from the seal provider. You can drive safely if you check the name of the store directly on the seal provider's website. This way, clicking on the offer there will take you directly to the right webshop.

A seemingly blurred, washed-out and fuzzy logo of a seal provider, which is also not clickable, is a strong indication of misuse of the same.

Spelling and general design of websites are nowadays partly so professionally presented that this can no longer be used as the sole characteristic for checking for fakeshops. On the other hand, there are also many dyslexics among the serious store operators.

Payment options: In online precious metal trading, there are actually only two common payment methods: Cash (for offers with self-collection in a local store of the provider) and prepayment bank transfer. There is no reputable precious metal dealer in Germany that I know of that handles payments with PayPal or credit card! On the one hand, the costs for such procedures are too high (because the margin is often only in the single-digit percentage range), on the other hand, the susceptibility to fraud is too risky for the store operator.

Discounts or new customer promotions: Gold, or precious metals trading in general, is a very narrow-margin business, i.e., one with little room to maneuver in terms of price. Anyone advertising offers beyond market value or coupons or discount codes is completely wrong in this business and is probably acting fraudulently. There is no discount on gold or precious metals. Not when buying one Krugerrand coin and also not when buying 10, 20 or 30 coins! Bars of course just as not! Dealers who offer such graduated prices from the outset are highly problematic! Who wants to buy more gold, is referred to higher standardizations (with bars zb. instead of 10x 10g, even 1x 100g gold) - see last contribution of me to the topic "buy more - save more".

The promised new customer discount from above is therefore a clear warning sign!

Prices in the market. No serious dealer allows himself massive deviations in gold sales. Surely, especially in the ounce range a lot of shenanigans and there are dealers who deviate partly 50 €. Here, however, must be checked in each individual case, such as the quality or the delivery time of the goods is specified. Just with favorable offers a delivery time of up to 8 weeks is given... how I react as a dealer to such competitors or what I think of it, also that another, new topic... and nevertheless: 100€ more favorably or even 200€ more favorably than the market, nobody will be able to offer that. Why? Because the offer is arbitrage transactions would be quickly exploited and thus would be equalized.

By the way: Shops that advertise with SSL connection are also somehow strange. Especially in today's age, a certified, secure connection and a corresponding valid protocol (e.g. https://) should be established for every store. SSL has nothing to do with the precious metal business itself! [Source 2]

So, besides the facts mentioned here, there are a number of ways to check the offers of unknown online stores.

How do I recognize reputable stores or can I check them and compare prices?

In the precious metal trade and the associated online business has for years already gold.de [Source
3] and silber.de [Source
4] have proven their worth.

These two portals act as intermediaries, comparison portals and information points.

Here you can compare prices and find reputable dealers.

In order to be listed here as a retailer, I as a store operator have to go through an inspection process and am also regularly subjected to certain inspection points after being accepted. Furthermore, dealers must pay for the referral of customers. This is NOT via commission, i.e. revenue share, but via a listing fee, among other things. Decisive: Gold.de does not prefer any stores, but lists purely according to the filter or price settings of the potential customers. This is done e.g. via clicks and click content. I am not allowed to mention more details for legal reasons.

If you click on the store links in the price lists, you will get safely and easily to the corresponding, at least fraud-free stores of the precious metal dealers.

On gold.de you can also find a regularly updated Fakeshop-Blacklist. Under the link [source 5] you can use the Fakeshop Checker to track down or even report such stores.

I will recommend you for reasons no precious metal dealer, since I work myself with one, this for Werttbewerbsgründen and my protection however (as already known and also further valid) will not mention.

What to do if I was a victim of fraud in this context and have already transferred money?

The first step is to go to your bank. To do this, you should submit a so-called sepa cancellation order with the note "fraud". This order must be submitted before the end of the business day. Your bank will then probably still be able to "get back" the money. How and whether this works in detail, is also strongly dependent on the method of operation and the transfer type. Instant transfers (flash transfers) are only callable within a few hours (the process of stopping a transfer is called recall). After that, the report is made to the police or online police station [Source 6]. For this purpose, the order confirmation, generally all mail traffic and the website (as a screenshot) are to be saved urgently.

Conclusion:

Be attentive and "eyes open" when buying gold and precious metals on the Internet. In today's age, it is no problem to acquire large quantities and volumes of shiny and high-quality investment metals safely and discreetly. However, "I" should exercise great caution especially with "me" unknown providers. With the preceding tips I hope to have already helped you further.

And otherwise so?

Don't miss out on the 31.12.2022 at 12 o'clock running raffle on my profile. Under the contribution to the 800 follower special you can win a book and an Amazon voucher. And guaranteed without rip-off and empty promises of wealth and prosperity.

You can find the post here:

https://app.getquin.com/activity/lgyDRnRSKN?lang=de&utm_source=sharing

Wishing you a brilliant and, above all, safe New Year!

References:

[Source 1] https://www.northdata.de/Gold+Silber+Kontor+GmbH,+Berlin/Amtsgericht+Charlottenburg+%28Berlin%29+HRB+120782+B

[Source 2] https://www.itwissen.info/SSL-Protokoll-secure-socket-layer-TCP-IP-SSL.html

[Source 3]www.gold.de

[Source 4] www.silber.de

[Source 5] https://www.gold.de/fakeshop-blacklist/

[Source 6] https://www.bka.de/DE/KontaktAufnehmen/Onlinewachen/onlinewachen_node.html

Dedicated to our getquin Sherlock Holmes: @Europoor ♥️

#savingstips
#edelmetalle
#gold
#learn

+++ Buy a lot, save a lot? +++

(from the series: Your question about precious metals - part 3)

Today I would like to address a question which rather comes from a statement of @Tommy_oh_c137 under the bar purchase of @TeilzeitKapitalist was taken:

"Would have bought directly ne ounce, save money."

Is this statement true? Basically, yes. In precious metals trading, the principle is: "The more, the cheaper." So if we buy more gold, the price I have to pay per gram goes down as a rule.

The calculation example using the 5g bar of @TeilzeitKapitalist is the following:

We assume that he bought the 5g bar for about 290€ (290€/5[g]= 58€). So he paid 58€/gram. If he now bought the mentioned ounce (nominel 31,1g gold) at a price of 1.770€, his price per gram would have reached 56,91€/gram (1.770€/31,1[g]=56,91€).

So he saves 1.09€ per gram of gold. If he would buy the 31.1g with 6 bars of 5g and one 1g gold bar, the total amount would be 1,806€ (assuming a 1g bar price of 66.00€).

A difference of 36 EURO.*

The statement is therefore plausible and realistic.

But: The same can be continued with 50g bars, 100g and even more with a kilo of gold. The more gold "I" buy, the more I approach the middle rate for gold.

Why do small bars cost relatively more than bars over 1 ounce?

I have already explained it above. The more gold is purchased by the customer, the cheaper the price per gram becomes. The same principle applies, of course, to traders who are themselves customers at the next higher instant in the purchasing chain. The more gold I purchase from banks, refineries or third party dealers, the more favorable my ratio becomes in the purchase price.

In addition to the price, there are forming and minting costs, operating, personnel and marketing costs, and shipping costs.

Let's assume that the manufacturer costs 54,03€ (ounce: 1696€ according to the stock exchange minus 0,50€ melting costs per gram) in the purchase of melted gold (melted gold or raw gold (i.e. mine gold) are to be considered differently, more about this possibly sometime). The gold is melted and poured into a 100g bar. The process costs money to the manufacturer, the so-called molding cost is 2.5€ per 100g bar.

The refiner sells the bar plus shipping costs of a flat 36€. Assuming it sells the minimum quantity of 25 pieces, the 1x 100g bar costs 5.487€ including shipping. (Originally number mistake; thanks @BregisMoon )

If this 100g bar is now minted by 10 (so is minted into 10x 10g bars) so the price per gram increases again. So instead of 2.50 euros, 3.50 euros, for example, will be due. Coined again in 5g or smaller notation, the minting costs can increase by a factor of 5.

There are also constant minting costs, where the following applies: If the minting costs remain at least the same, the share of the minting costs nevertheless increases as a percentage in proportion to the low price for the bar. Result: The gram of gold costs more with a smaller quantity (percentage calculation incoming...).

This is of course only a calculation example, because the forming costs become more expensive, the less the customer is a regular customer at the Scheid company or buys only modest quantities.

It is not uncommon for minimum purchases to be set at the beginning of each year or periodically renewed. If one should not come as a dealer on the sales, then the business relation ends faster than one can look.

Also, the form costs set here are actually set too low, but is irrelevant for the example.

The embossing and forming costs therefore describe the amount of work required on the material. If this increases due to the smaller standardization, this is reflected in the price per gram. It is not for nothing that the 1g bar costs 10€ more per gram than per ounce.

The statement whether I "save" money when I buy larger quantities is true and correct.

But... Let us come to the actually more important question for the investment in precious metals:

Does buying larger quantities of gold actually make sense?

Basically, the answer to the question depends very much on the intended use and the investment objective, which standard size is purchased. And then, of course, the wallet.

Here I also go back to the example of the 5g bar.

If we assume a portfolio with a size of approx. 5700€ and acquire a 5g bar at a price of 290 EURO, we have a weighting of 5% in the total portfolio.

So if you are aiming for 5-10% as a target for gold in your portfolio, you have already laid a foundation with this purchase.

If @TeilzeitKapitalist however, the ounce that makes more sense in terms of price goes into the vault, suddenly the entire risk allocation collapses like a house of cards. The share is then a remarkable 23.6%.

I once addressed this in another post on the subject of paper gold or physical money. We have then no more small anchor for a lifeboat, but that of a cruise ship. Whether this is sensible is a matter for debate.

So how to proceed? Not to buy gold?

Who buys gold, acts from the drive of security, the risk control, the value protection or simply investment diversification. Those who buy precious metal should therefore apply the same rules of the game as for single asset investments. The amount of precious metal in the portfolio must necessarily match the risk tolerance of each investor himself. The general rule for 5-10% precious metals in the portfolio may not apply equally to all investors. This allocation stems from the fund manager's understanding of parking a portion of value-hedged investment instruments outside of fiat money.

The principle: Gold is always worth its price does not say anything else. The sentence should also read more accurately: "Gold is always worth its purchase price until "I" sell the gold at a higher or lower price."

Whoever buys gold, therefore, buys gold in the amount of his risk allocation and, above all, appropriate to his portfolio size.

How should our protagonist proceed when the value of the portfolio increases?

The easiest way to maintain and permanently continue the risk allocation for precious metals in the portfolio is with a savings plan on an ETC certificate (value-hedged with gold, e.g. EUWAX 2 Gold from Börse Stuttgart). To do this, we calculate once the monthly savings rate on shares, put our target allocation in the ratio and save in percentage terms simply the nominal value per month to maintain the weighting. Advantage, I can increase or decrease the rate at any time, have no storage costs and still a (usually) physical deposit of the shiny precious metal. About the risks I have already written in detail in the addressed article about paper gold or physical gold (see link tree in my profile).

For those who prefer physical gold, I can recommend the method of one-time purchase. Depending on your financial possibilities this means one purchase per quarter, per half year or even per year. With this variant I proceed in such a way that I estimate my year-end volume of my depot (because I invest e.g. regularly money by savings plan or single purchase of shares) and then at a fixed time the risk allocation with gold corriegieren as far as it is possible. In our example with 5g, the purchase of 5g would be due again in the next year, because the deposit may have grown by double. It does not matter if the risk allocation has gone down to 2.5% over the year, as long as I return to my 5% share at the end of the year.

The fun fact about all this: You do it like every other fund manager. At the end of the year, at the annual report of an investment year, the risk allocation is corrected and straightened out.

At some point you will have some 5g bars in your portfolio. However, since the gold price is subject to the same fluctuations, you have an average price with your purchased bars, the gold is probably again more expensive than last time, you can probably switch to a correspondingly higher bar against a payment of a small difference (namely between the purchase and sale of the bars). Or you just leave it at that, because 1kg of gold is just about the size of a big bar of Milka chocolate... try to illustrate that with the same value of silver...

Another advantage of your denomination: You can partly sell your gold when needed and don't have to sell 1 ounce or more right away.

In no case, however, the position should deviate excessively upwards, but just as important is a sufficient amount of precious metal to prevent a purely cosmetic measure (example: 500€ in precious metals with a deposit of 100,000 euros is, just 0.5% weighting... is therefore rather a thin thread instead of anchor rope on the cruise ship).

It is clear: Who has an appropriate portfolio or a certain risk allocation in mind, which makes an investment with 100g or ounce denominations meaningful, should do this, because this is then actually the "cheaper" method of investing in precious metals.

I wish you a golden future and much success! 🍀

*the prices mentioned are actual prices of a single dealer, as of this morning around 8:30.

#gold
#edelmetalle
#fragedelmetalle
#learn

Hello everyone,

I would like to gradually enrich my portfolio with gold so that it ultimately accounts for a maximum of 5% of the total value. I have selected the following two ETCs and am now unsure which one to choose. My investment horizon is 15 - 20 years.

$4GLD - Xetra-Gold

Fees: 0.3% p.a. based on the value of the custody account. These fees are charged monthly, which can quickly become expensive with my planned investment horizon and a possibly rising gold price. Added to this are the rather high delivery fees.

$EWG2 - EUWAX Gold II

No fees, but a significantly higher spread. Significantly better cost model for delivery fees.

Do you have any pro/con arguments? Or which factors should I perhaps take a closer look at?

Thank you in advance and good luck with your investments. 🍀

#gold
#etc
#invest
#edelmetalle
#entscheidung