ABC 12 – WJRT – Flint, MIPolice warn of silver fraud in Saginaw Township

(01/23/12) - Gold and silver dealers are seeing a lot of people come through their doors, checking to see how much their jewelry and coins are worth.

But someone is going around Saginaw County trying to sell fake silver to dealers, and in some instances, they are succeeding.

It looks like silver, feels like silver, but it's not, and police say at least three stores are the victims of a silver fraud.

"I have seen plenty of frauds in my time, this is a new one," said Chris Fredenburg of the Saginaw Township Police.

This new fraud lies in silver ingots, at least they appear to be silver. A marijuana leaf is on the front of each one, with "Make It Legal, One Troy Ounce" written on the back, with the claim that it's fine silver.

"To look at, to hold these, they have the approximate weight of a silver bar, even an expert in the industry is going to feel this and assume it's real," Fredenburg said.

At least three area stores thought they were real, and one store purchased 50 of them last month.

"The transaction was in the amount of $1,200," Fredenburg said.

But Fredenburg says once you scratch the surface, "on their face, they are a fun novelty piece."

Jennifer McNally of The Gold and Silver Exchange says a man came into her store a few weeks ago, trying to sell the ingots. "They just didn't look normal compared to other silver ingots that we have seen, so we decided to test them and when we tested them they turned out to be fake," she said.

She tested them by using a chemical, but buyers and sellers of silver have other tests.

"You take a magnet and put it over the real one, and it's not going to stick, these are fake coins...and they stick," McNally said.

Saginaw Township Police have notified businesses of the fake silver going around. McNally says it's a constant concern in her line of work. "People bring through stuff all the time, so we have to be on our toes."

Saginaw Township Police have a possible suspect in the case, and it is being reviewed by the prosecutor's office to see if fraud charges will be issued.