Wealthy Hongkongers are being targeted by suspicious brokers offering to sell them enormous quantities of gold sourced from Thai royalty but then demanding access to their banking details before showing proof the bullion exists.
The brokers claim to have access to up to 5,000 tonnes of gold, which they say they are selling on behalf of the Thai royal family.
Police, local banks and private investigators say the trend could be a new spin on an old form of fraud.
Hong Kong is a prime target for the scam, given its many billionaires and the lust for gold as a hedge against a tumbling US dollar. It appears to be feeding on uncertainty over the future of Thailand after the reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is 81 and in poor health.
A financial adviser to Hong Kong's ultra-wealthy said that he was approached by three brokers. He became suspicious when they asked for his clients' banking details. The amounts on offer are also dubious. Even the International Monetary Fund owns only 3,217 tonnes of gold, according to its website. The central government has 1,054 tonnes.
'These people seemed unconnected. They were from different continents. Their stories, however, were the same,' the adviser said.
He added that none of his contacts had ever heard of the brokers.
The Thai consulate in Hong Kong is aware of the scam and has been approached in the past by possible buyers checking the legitimacy of similar offers. The Thai government has yet to issue a formal statement.
Similar offers about the alleged Thai gold have appeared on blogs and obscure trading websites. On one blog the author said he had 1,000 tonnes of gold for sale and that it was stored at HSBC in Hong Kong.
The advert said interested buyers should arrange to meet a representative of the Thai royal family in Hong Kong. It said buyers should bring a colour copy of their passport, their bank account details, proof of the funds in their account and a specimen signature on a computer file.
An HSBC spokesman said in response: 'We generally advise anyone who brings them to our attention that they are false and advise them to pass the information to the police.'
The Commercial Crime Bureau said it had not received any complaints but advised the public to report anything suspicious to police. A spokesman said: 'Each case will be investigated and if possible, as a result of the investigation the perpetrator will be arrested and prosecuted.'
Post reporters traced the blog's author. In return for anonymity, he hinted he had been ensnared in a scam without his knowledge, saying: 'Ninety-eight per cent of the e-mails you read about gold for sale are fake, mostly because of intermediaries not knowing a real offer from a fake one.'
He said an associate had told him about the Thai gold and that he had since realised it was not available.
Steve Vickers, head of security firm FTI-International Risk and a former commander in the Royal Hong Kong Police's Criminal Intelligence Bureau, said there was a long history in Hong Kong of people apparently selling large quantities of gold when the price was high.
'The contents of the blogs contain genuine technical jargon to make them appear authentic. The author(s) seem to know their subject matter,' he said. 'There is no independent verification of the claims of the blog author(s) as the representative of the Thai royal family, or information that the Thai royals are selling off any assets.'
The story has echoes of the 'Marcos gold' scams in the late 1990s. There are rumours that when he fled the Philippines in 1986, Ferdinand Marcos took a huge stash of gold. In 1997 an Australian was arrested in Melbourne on charges of faking documents claiming he had access to US$9 billion worth of the gold.
Additional reporting by Greg Torode and Barclay Crawford
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Wealthy Hongkongers are being targeted by suspicious brokers offering to sell them enormous quantities of gold sourced from Thai royalty but then demanding access to their banking details before showing proof the bullion exists. The brokers claim to have access to up to 5,000 tonnes of gold, which they say they are selling on behalf of the Thai royal family.Police, local banks and private investigators say the trend could be a new spin on an old form of fraud. Hong Kong is a prime target for the scam, given its many billionaires and the lust for gold as a hedge against a tumbling US dollar. It appears to be feeding on uncertainty over the future of Thailand after the reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is 81 and in poor health.A financial adviser to Hong Kong's ultra-wealthy said that he was approached by three brokers. He became suspicious when they asked for his clients' banking details. The amounts on offer are also dubious. Even the International Monetary Fund owns only 3,217 tonnes of gold, according to its website. The central government has 1,054 tonnes.'These people seemed unconnected. They were from different continents. Their stories, however, were the same,' the adviser said.He added that none of his contacts had ever heard of the brokers.The Thai consulate in Hong Kong is aware of the scam and has been approached in the past by possible buyers checking the legitimacy of similar offers. The Thai government has yet to issue a formal statement. Similar offers about the alleged Thai gold have appeared on blogs and obscure trading websites. On one blog the author said he had 1,000 tonnes of gold for sale and that it was stored at HSBC in Hong Kong. The advert said interested buyers should arrange to meet a representative of the Thai royal family in Hong Kong. It said buyers should bring a colour copy of their passport, their bank account details, proof of the funds in their account and a specimen signature on a computer file. An HSBC spokesman said in response: 'We generally advise anyone who brings them to our attention that they are false and advise them to pass the information to the police.' The Commercial Crime Bureau said it had not received any complaints but advised the public to report anything suspicious to police. A spokesman said: 'Each case will be investigated and if possible, as a result of the investigation the perpetrator will be arrested and prosecuted.'Post reporters traced the blog's author. In return for anonymity, he hinted he had been ensnared in a scam without his knowledge, saying: 'Ninety-eight per cent of the e-mails you read about gold for sale are fake, mostly because of intermediaries not knowing a real offer from a fake one.' He said an associate had told him about the Thai gold and that he had since realised it was not available. Steve Vickers, head of security firm FTI-International Risk and a former commander in the Royal Hong Kong Police's Criminal Intelligence Bureau, said there was a long history in Hong Kong of people apparently selling large quantities of gold when the price was high.'The contents of the blogs contain genuine technical jargon to make them appear authentic. The author(s) seem to know their subject matter,' he said. 'There is no independent verification of the claims of the blog author(s) as the representative of the Thai royal family, or information that the Thai royals are selling off any assets.'The story has echoes of the 'Marcos gold' scams in the late 1990s. There are rumours that when he fled the Philippines in 1986, Ferdinand Marcos took a huge stash of gold. In 1997 an Australian was arrested in Melbourne on charges of faking documents claiming he had access to US$9 billion worth of the gold. Additional reporting by Greg Torode and Barclay CrawfordShare
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