Gold fences on tv

June 30, 2009 8:46 PM

Are those cash for gold outfits advertising on tv operating as a fence for stolen jewelry?

It just seemed to me on first seeing the ads that their target customers would be petty crooks. 'We melt it ourselves' means no traceability.

posted by yesster to Law & Government (9 answers total)

I imagine they would have little regard for where the items came from, so I could see them taking some stolen goods. I imagine the main focus of their customer base is the elderly or ill informed about how to sell such products for their full value along with those who are in need of money relatively quickly.
posted by newper at 9:00 PM on June 30, 2009

No, they're just underpaying people for their jewelry.
posted by glider at 9:02 PM on June 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

If jewelry thieves are sending their ill-gotten pieces to the "Cash 4 Gold" people, they're not very smart. "Cash 4 Gold" (and other companies like them) pay only a tiny fraction of what the jewelry is worth, and they are the subject of numerous consumer complaints. See this recent post at Consumerist for starters. There are plenty of other, more lucrative, ways to fence stolen jewelry.
posted by amyms at 9:08 PM on June 30, 2009

Cockeyed.com explains.
posted by ryanrs at 9:14 PM on June 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

Cockeyed DOES also explain that if you call and complain about the price, they bump it up to about what someone else (who I guess he believed was not scamming him) offered.
posted by RustyBrooks at 11:26 PM on June 30, 2009

Previously covered in the blue. Some interesting additional information there.
posted by Ziggy Zaga at 11:56 PM on June 30, 2009

I have to disagree amyms. Most of the time a thief is happy to get 25% of the total value out of something stolen. Plus these businesses melt down the evidence of a theft. If I stole someone for nothing and make made $ off of it I would have to be happy with what I got. As for everyday people, yeah these things are total scams. They pay you 1/3 sometimes less of what the gold by weight is worth. Most people see a few $100 bucks and feel that they made cash. When in reality gold is around $940.00 an ounce these days.
posted by Mastercheddaar at 6:41 AM on July 1, 2009

Most of the time a thief is happy to get 25% of the total value out of something stolen. Plus these businesses melt down the evidence of a theft. If I stole someone for nothing and make made $ off of it I would have to be happy with what I got.

The problem with this is that most (small time) thieves also want the money right away, and in cash. If someone randomly mugs or robs someone and ends up with jewelry, they probably aren't going to go through the trouble of getting a special envelope, mailing the jewelry, and waiting for a check to come back. And a serious thief that specifically targeted jewelry would most likely have a better fence than the scammers at Cash 4 Gold.
posted by burnmp3s at 7:08 AM on July 1, 2009

Best answer: Yes but intuitively it does seem like thieves would use this method to fence their goods if they had a modicum of intelligence. Not all thieves are small time; some are professional. It solves a lot of the problems of trying to fence goods locally at local pawn shops and cash for gold places. These places are routinely given local bulletins and descriptions of stolen high value jewelry and are bound by community pressure to act responsibly.The hassle of mailing off stolen goods more than offsets the stress and risk of trying to sell stolen gold locally. It totally removes the stolen goods from the area and anonymizes it once it's melted. A nationwide consolidator of 'scrap' gold has no compunction or motivation to determine ownership of the gold and doesn't have to abide by community pressures to act responsibly.

It's actually a beautiful scheme isn't it?

It wouldn't suprise me that national crime syndicates run the larger mail in cash for gold operations. The less than market value paid is a huge tell that business has some nefarious operators and less than commendable ethics. Interesting question by the way on many levels.
posted by Muirwylde at 3:24 PM on July 1, 2009