Precious metals are one of my favorite inflation hedges and long-term investment options.

While there are many reputable dealers, I’m showing you how to avoid ten gold IRA scams that can hamper your investment returns—or even worse—rob your retirement savings.

What are gold IRA scams?

Gold scams typically involve expense fees, high-pressure sales tactics, or vague language and disclosures.

Depending on the scheme, you may own legitimate IRA-eligible precious metals with unethically high costs that can make it near-impossible to make money.

Scammers may project potential investment returns that sound too good to be true.

Truthfully, gold and silver are not get-rich-quick assets. Neither are they not risk-free or able to provide guaranteed investment gains.

When evaluating gold IRA companies and precious metals dealers, I look for warning signs such as high prices versus the spot price and customer service quality before investing.

I also rely on customer reviews to get an inside look at strengths and weaknesses.

Top 10 Most Common Scams (Gold IRA’s, Bars, & Investments)

Below are several gold scams you should frequently watch out for to avoid overpaying and protect your assets within your tax-advantaged gold IRA or taxable cash account.

Home storage gold IRA

Quite simply, home storage gold IRAs—also known as self-storage IRAs or LLC IRAs—are illegal and any company promoting them is an obvious scam.

Gold IRA storage rules require all of your metals to stay at an IRS-approved depository.

Physical delivery triggers a liquidation event, which may involve paying taxes and an early distribution penalty. You can only self-store gold with taxable accounts per IRS regulations.

While you can’t keep tax-advantaged gold and silver at home, you can choose a nearby storage vault and schedule in-person visits.

Further, your IRA custodian maintains accurate records to ensure tax compliance.

High gold spot price markup

Premiums over the spot price can differ widely by dealer and product, so it pays to comparison shop.

The spread between the price of gold is how much the dealer earns from the transaction.

You don’t want to be a price-gouging victim by only shopping through one dealer. I always compare several dealers to find the best deal before buying physical gold.

Under normal market conditions, a 2% to 10% price markup is standard.

You should strive to buy coins and bars when the premium is within this range. For example, a $2,000 gold coin would have a premium between $40 and $200.

So, what’s an excessive gold IRA markup?

It’s hard to believe, but the CFTC reports sales prices 20% to 400% above spot.

These outrageous premiums require extensive holding periods before breaking even and it might be impossible to profit during your lifetime.

High-pressure sales tactics

High-pressure sales tactics are a glaring red flag that you’re overpaying or buying products not in your best interest.

Typically, dealers push products on which they earn a higher short-term sales commission while harming your long-term potential gains.

Most gold IRAs only conduct transactions by phone. A human-to-human conversation has many benefits, such as finding the best available gold and silver for your goals.

Simultaneously, it can open the door to gold IRA scams.

An aggressive salesperson may spark situations, such as:

Urge making a purchase now without time to review the transaction agreement
Limited-time pricing that expires if you hang up now
Promote products you’re not interested in
Partial answers to your questions
“Too good to be true” statements and unrealistic projected returns
Misleading contracts, sales prices, and fees

Before calling, I recommend pricing the coins and bars you intend to buy from several competitors.

Next, review the transaction agreement detailing your purchase cost and any additional fees before buying.

Consider a different company if the sales representative needs to be more helpful. Further, don’t use gold IRAs that don’t provide a price quote with sufficient time to review and make a non-pressured decision.

While time-consuming, you may also interview several gold IRA companies before funding an account.

Notate your first impressions during the free consultation to find a patient, hands-on specialist.

Recommending collectible or numismatic coins

Numismatic coins typically charge higher premiums due to their scarcity, but they may not be IRA-eligible.

Initially, rare coins appear to have more upside potential, but the extra risks seldom make them a good investment.

The reasons for avoiding rare coin investments include:

High premiums: Bigger premiums are harder to offset and diminish your lifetime returns. Bullion coins and common gold coins typically recoup the purchase costs sooner as their value simply tracks the melt value.
Volatile collectible value: Rare coins cost more as current collector demand is a pricing factor. Dealers know this and they may push them to earn better short-term commissions at your expense.
Difficult to sell: It can be challenging to find a buyer wanting your desired asking price if future demand decreases or if you need to sell quickly as rare coins have less liquidity.
IRA eligibility: Not all collectible coins are IRA-approved precious metals due to low fineness ratings. The dealer may mislead you into believing they are. For example, pre-1933 gold isn’t IRA-eligible as the purity levels are too low.

As a hobby, I often entertain buying Saint Gaudens gold coins with a pre-1933 mint date, pre-1900 Morgan Silver Dollars, and limited edition proofs.

These coins are always worth the metal’s weight, but the collectible value should be treated as bonus income.

Instead, it’s better to invest in common gold coins such as American Eagles and Canadian Maple Leafs.

These alternatives have high purity levels and competitive premiums.

Minimum Purity Levels for IRA-Approved Metals

Gold	99.5% pure (except for Gold Eagle coins)
Silver	99.9%
Platinum	99.5%
Palladium	99.5%

If you decide to buy numismatic coins—whether as an investment or a hobby—the FTC recommends only working through reputable dealers that can verify authenticity.

There are many copy coins and mislabeled products that are not legit rare coins or IRA-eligible.

Outrageous free metals promotions

New customer promotions are among the best-disguised gold IRA scams encouraging a more enormous initial investment in exchange for “free gold and silver.”

What actually happens is that dealers inflate prices, so you indirectly pay for your welcome gift.

The promotion may also entice you to allocate too much of your retirement savings into precious metals to earn the total bonus value.

Plus, it’s easy to only focus on the short-term benefits and overlook your long-term investing costs.

Some promotions also guarantee buybacks at prices that seem too good to be true. And it is, as dealers usually back out and offer a lower rate.

This bait-and-switch tactic isn’t as prevalent, yet it’s still something to look for.

Instead, comparison shopping helps you find the lowest gold prices after counting all fees and promotions.

It may seem boring, but promotions waiving IRA administrative fees or promotion-free dealers with straightforward pricing can be the most affordable.

Compare promotions and ongoing prices before starting a 401(k) to gold rollover.

Selling fake gold or lesser-value products

Sadly, some gold investment scams mean never buying physical gold despite dealers’ claims.

Usually, you buy counterfeit coins and bars that are difficult to detect as dealers deliver your order directly to the depository as you can’t self-store IRA precious metals..

Common fake gold scams include:

Counterfeit coins that have similar engraving but are only gold-plated and inaccurate weights. Unfortunately, there are similar gold bar scams with fake coating.
Inaccurate paperwork by receiving cheaper products containing less metal than you agreed to. For example, you pay for a 1 oz. coin and receive a ¼ oz. instead.
Fraudulent grading where coins appraise for less than their actual condition. Consider getting a second opinion before buying or selling.
Short operating history with a newly-created website or sparsely available information. The company may also lack customer reviews if it’s so new.
Ponzi schemes generate non-existent purchases while the IRA custodian or depository location never confirms receipt.

If possible, inspect your purchases soon after arriving at the depository.

Try bringing a scale to measure the weight and determine their legitimacy.

Legit gold IRAs replace counterfeit coins at no extra cost.

Additionally, read customer reviews on third-party rating sites such as the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Trustpilot, and Trustlink to look for defects or red flags for gold IRA dealers, custodians, and depositories.

This technique is one of the best for spotting scams. However, it’s not foolproof as advanced rackets may start off honestly or not present many warning signs.

The Oxford Gold Group scam is a prime example as the company cut ties with its long-time IRA custodian without informing investors but kept processing transactions.

Investors eventually received an alert from the custodian and a class action lawsuit is pending.

Only trust a dealer with proper paperwork from third-party partners. For example, prior to the scandal, Oxford had excellent reviews, credible information guides, and valid custodian and depository partners.

When opening a gold IRA, speak with the IRA custodian to verify your account details.

Continually review your account statements and schedule vault visits when possible.

Hidden fees

Only work with gold IRAs that have transparent pricing.

You can obtain current fees from their website, phone consultations, and transaction agreements. Otherwise, your gains can evaporate if the dealer has steep charges.

Fees differ by platform but generally include:

Account opening fee: A one-time fee due upon account opening. It’s sometimes waived or reduced with a significant initial deposit.
Annual management fee: Sometimes known as a custodial fee. The annual cost is usually between $50 and $300, depending on account size and custodian.
Depository fees: Storage costs charged by the third-party vault protecting your assets. Fees differ by location and if you select segregated or non-segregated storage.
Premiums: A slight markup above the current spot price to buy or sell coins and bars. As I mentioned before, verify current spot price fees are competitive with the industry.

You may also encounter buyback fees or liquidation charges when selling back your metal or closing your account.

While these fee amounts will likely alter as it’s years before you sell, determine if they’re reasonable with other dealers.

Non-existent buyback policy

Selling back to your gold IRA provider is usually easiest to get the best price.

Most dealers publish their buyback terms and conditions, such as the estimated seller’s premium and price-matching policies so you can secure fair market value.

Dealers with vague policies are more likely to charge hidden fees or make below-market offers.

I also don’t feel as confident investing with platforms where I don’t fully understand how to sell.

With alternative assets, knowing your exit strategy before investing is critical, as there’s less liquidity and usually more ongoing fees.

Thankfully, you can sell your gold through other dealers as you coordinate sales through your IRA custodian and depository.

I suggest getting multiple price quotes to earn top dollar.

Offshore storage

All IRA precious metals must stay in an IRS-approved gold bullion vault within the United States.

Vaults in other countries are for personal non-retirement assets only, even if the dealer says it’s possible.

Offshore storage is an appealing marketing tactic since buyers gain the perception of skirting tax jurisdictions, more anonymity, and highly secure vaults.

Truthfully, offshore storage is only practical for vaulting $1 million or more to reap the benefits and offset the costs.

Trustworthy IRS-approved depositories with locations nationwide include:

Shaved coins

Dishonest precious metals dealers may shave a tiny portion of your gold bars or coins, making them lighter and less valuable.

The missing amount is so small that it’s barely noticeable without a thorough inspection or weight measurement.

Sadly, gold IRA rules prohibit you—the buyer—from taking possession as the metals must go directly from the dealer to the vault.

Thus, it’s impossible to inspect your purchase before it goes to the vault. To avoid this scheme, only work with top-rated dealers that have multiple recent positive reviews.

Hopefully, they also possess industry memberships for an extra credibility layer. If you come across this scam, or others on this list, be sure to report them to alert others.

How can I avoid these gold IRA scams?

The chances of encountering any of the gold investment scams I list above are low when using one of the best gold IRA companies.

They offer hands-on support and transparent pricing to fully answer your questions and help you invest confidently.

It’s still worth comparing multiple dealers to find the best investment options, pricing, and buyback programs for your retirement goals.

10 Common Gold IRA Scams You Need to Avoid