Protect Your Personal Safety when Buying and Selling Precious Metals

Precious Metal InvestmentRecycle Precious MetalsRecycling and Refining
Written By Barry Lenson

Protection from Mugging, Identity Theft and Worse . . .

We have already written on this post about taking steps to protect your precious metals from theft. We’ve recommended keeping your gold scrap, silver scrap and platinum scrap in bank safety deposit boxes. We have also recommended keeping an inventory of your holdings and taking out insurance to protect their value in case they are stolen.

But what about your personal safety?  How can you protect yourself from becoming a victim of either personal or virtual attack as you buy and sell precious items?

Here are some steps to take.

Take Steps to Protect Your Online Identity

The question to ask is, how do you know that the buyer or seller you are communicating with is actually the person you think he or she is? If you get a solicitation from someone who wants to buy or sell precious metals, for example, is that person really who he or she claims to be?

There are no guarantees. Here are some defensive steps to take:

  • Don’t reply to suspicious messages.

  • Never share financial information, such as bank account routing information, with anyone online.

  • Do not use a charge card or other card to purchase anything from anyone you do not know online.

  • Do not share information about the precious metals you own or would like to sell, online.

  • Don’t assume that an email you get from someone you know was really sent by that individual.

  • Never send passwords or any login information via email, even to people you know or trust. There are many ways crooks can intercept your messages and steal your information.

  • If you want to accept payments via direct deposit, or one of the popular payment platforms like PayPal or Venmo, set up a new, separate bank account and receive your payments there instead of using a checking or savings account you already have.

Take Steps to Protect Yourself When Making In-Person Sales or Purchases

One common piece of advice is to never invite a buyer or seller you do not know to your home or place of business. That advice further recommends meeting buyers or sellers in a public location like a highway rest stop, or in front of your local police headquarters.

That is the advice you will hear, but the fact is that taking those basic steps will not protect you from thieves or even from physical attack. Another sobering fact is that if criminals can obtain your license plate number, they can use that data to find your home and then go there to steal your precious metals and other valuables.

Take these steps instead to protect yourself:

  • Complete your purchases and sales at the location of a reputable established retail merchant. This might not offer complete protection from dishonest individuals – crooks have been known to operate retail enterprises. But it does minimize your exposure to risk. And if you can park at some distance from the jeweler or other retailer you are dealing with or travel there on public transportation, thieves will not be able to obtain your license plate and vehicle information.

  • If you are carrying valuables to some neutral location to complete a transaction, consider hiring someone from a security company to accompany you. Private security guards have a way of looking exactly like private security guards, and their presence can discourage criminals from trying to steal your items or attacking you.

Keep a Low Profile

Store your valuables in a secure location that is not in your home – like one of the safety deposit boxes we mentioned earlier in today’s post. And resist the temptation to talk about your holdings and investments, even with people you believe you can trust.

Some steps to take:

  • Don’t tell your friends and relatives that you have precious metal holdings. Who knows? That “trustworthy” son-in-law of yours might not be able to resist the temptation to “borrow” some of your metals to get through a period of financial difficulty.

  • Avoid sharing information about your investments on online forums. Sure, lots of people are bragging about their investments in social media groups. Don’t you do it too.

  • Avoid bragging about your investments in social gatherings. That group of friendly people at your local bar might not be so friendly after all. Remember the old saying, “Loose Lips Sink Ships.” And another cliché, “Silence is Golden” applies.

  • Talk to your insurance company about obtaining coverage for what you own. Some people think this is a bad idea. But those are often people who want to hide investment profits from the IRS. Don’t be one of those people! Document and insure what you own.

Do Business with Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners

There are many reasons why our customers love doing business with us. They love having access to our testing services, which provide full reports on the metallic content of items they send securely to our facilities. They also love the additional security of knowing that we will pay them at verifiable current trading prices, which we even post on our home page.

And we have still more good news for you. Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners will soon open a new retail store located at 275 Rte 4 West, Paramus, NJ 07652. Enjoy the convenience and security of doing business in a well-lit shared retail space with great security. Call us today at 800-426-2344 to learn more.  

Barry Lenson
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