SAN DIEGO — It’s a story Alex Korber has heard many times when people wander into his store: Capitol Jewelry and Loan in San Marcos.
“He came in and he said ‘hey I’ve got some jewelry to sell,” mostly, says Korber the story where they got the jewelry goes like this “They are pulled aside by a man who gets out of his vehicle either on the side of the road at a gas station or in a casino parking lot.”
The man proceeds to sell him a what he claims to be a solid gold Rolex, rings and chains. At Three thousand dollars, sounds like a bargain. The person who bought the jewelry, who Korber said was a doctor, brings into his shop to be appraised.
“So I took one look at it and told him it's fake. And he he basically he said, Okay, well, I got scammed. He was really cool about it,” he says “He dumped it in our trash right there and just left.”
Korber has seen this scam a thousand times. But he says it’s picked up recently and they get about ten people a week coming in thinking they’ve struck it rich- but after a quick acid test, it’s quite easy to tell the real from the fake.
No word if the man contacted the authorities about the scam and we didn’t hear back from the Sherriff’s department for this story. Though, much further south Chula Vista police opened an investigation in November about the rash of gold scams in the South Bay.
But every jeweler will tell you, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is. At $2,000 an ounce the price of gold is near the highest it’s ever been. Korber says if you’re ever approached by someone looking to offload what they say is jewelry, be extremely cautious. Trust your gut and always get it authenticated by a professional before you make any purchases.