SUSPICIOUS BUSINESS ON THE SLOVENIAN LITTORAL

It has been reported that in region of the Slovenian Littoral, Italians and Czechs have recently been buying jewellery, in some instances even in hotels and at fire stations. Readers have also alerted us to an Italian company buying jewellery in a former clothing shop in the central market in Koper. Readers claimed that the company attempted to defraud them, as the jewellery they brought to be sold was appraised to be of lesser value, only nine carats. The same occurred when we visited the traders ourselves.

According to unofficial information, no criminal complaint has yet been filed, but the company has already been reported to the Market Surveillance Authority, which said they had no jurisdiction over the matter as it was deemed a fraud. Unofficial reports also say that the bank (allegedly Abanka) with which the company has an account has reported the matter to the Anti-Money Laundering Office due to the significant money flow.
Fraud warnings

Feliks Vrečko, a goldsmith and chairman of the section of goldsmiths and jewellers of the Chamber of Crafts and Small Business of Slovenia, said that gold is bought in an organised way in Slovenia mainly by Romanians and Austrians. “Care must be taken in these cases, as gold is not necessarily appraised and bought at a fair price. If you wish to sell your jewellery or other gold, the best thing to do is to take it to a jeweller’s,” he added. One of the private gold dealers from the Littoral region added: “Those who come here to buy jewellery may only come with a scale, making it easy to escape justice.” Gold dealers can protect themselves against fraud by asking the customer for ID.

THE CRISIS TAKES ITS TOLL

The people we met at gold dealers explained that they had to resort to this because of financial difficulties. Others see it as a good opportunity. “I wanted to sell some jewellery that I no longer need. In return, I bought some investment gold. I had some problems with the sale, because many jewellery shops didn’t have enough cash to pay me for the gold,” a young lady from Maribor said. Gold dealers in Ljubljana have also seen a surge in recent months due to the high gold purchase prices: “It’s been in the media a lot lately, so people want to make good money from old jewellery.”

GOLD TEETH FOR ONE THOUSAND EUROS

Most dealers also buy dental gold. “Dentists stopped making gold teeth years ago. People still keep them at home and don’t even know they could sell them,” one of Ljubljana’s gold dealers said. Prices vary, depending mainly on the size of the gold tooth. “It is mainly the elderly who sell dental gold; we have had cases where we have paid them thousands of euros for gold teeth,” the dealers added.

Koper. The jewellery we had appraised were a 14-carat gold ring with stones and gold earrings.

€53. Gold Center, Koper.
We had a 14-carat piece of jewellery appraised, which bears a hallmark that clearly shows its carats and who made it. The lady we were dealing with “discovered” that we were only offering her a 9-carat ring and earrings.

€104.90. Zlatarna Celje, Koper.
There is a big difference between how much jewellers sell their jewellery for and how much they purchase the same jewellery for. You would only get €42.90 for the same model of earrings that is sold for €166 at Zlatarna Celje.

€142.50. Edison Trade, Koper.
The jewellery was appraised as 14-carat gold, which corresponds to the hallmark.

Ljubljana. We had a 14-carat gold ring with semi-precious stones appraised.

€50. Trgo zlato, Ljubljana.
We were told by the dealer that they do not buy semi-precious stones, so their estimated price is only for pure gold.

€65. Zlatarna Celje, Ljubljana.
At Zlatarna Celje we were only given a rough estimate of the ring’s value, as they claim it contains too many semi-precious stones. They suggested that we first have them removed by a jeweller, and only then they could give us a more accurate estimate of the ring’s value.

€100. Gold Center, Ljubljana.
We were told that the price is set according to the weight of the gold and calculated according to the value of gold on the stock exchange, which changes daily, even hourly.

Maribor. We have had a 14-carat gold ring without any gemstones appraised.
€64. Trgo zlato, Maribor.
The two sales associates rubbed the gold on a plate and used chemicals to determine the carat value of the product. They explained to the seller that they needed her personal details as they do not buy stolen gold. The money was counted and handed to her along with the bill.

€67. Zlatarstvo Grabušnik, Maribor.
“If you buy from us, we offer €20 per gram for the ring,” the shop assistant at Zlatarstvo Grabušnik told us.

€80. Zlatarstvo Vrečko, Maribor.
The jeweller examined the ring and weighed it, but prior to that already explained that they pay €18 per gram of 14-carat gold.

Source: http://www.zurnal24.si