People gave him fifty 100 think the most I've heard was $200 and that York County jeweler says a handful of people have handed over their money to scammers in exchange for this jewelry. The problem, of course it's a scam. Fox 43 is Jackie Detore finds out why spotting a fake is harder than ever. It's a golden rule. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That's what the owner of Alexanders, Jewelry and Shrewsbury had to tell. Plenty of customers lately in the past 10 days we've had six different people come in with jewelry and they always just wanna know, hey, is this real that jewelry looks like this and it's all a scam that has been around for years and has been popping up more recently for whatever reason. In South Central PA. Can you tell which gold chain is real? The normal person looks at it and says OK it's marked 18 karat. It's gotta be 18 karat but unfortunately it's not. People say the scam starts in a parking lot just like this one in southern York County. People are putting their groceries away when they're approached by someone with a *** story. They have a crying baby and they can't afford gas. And to get that gas money they'll trade you a piece of jewelry. But the jeweler says it's worth nothing, probably about $0.50, whereas a real piece of gold like this would cost you thousands of dollars. Spotting a fake is is tough, especially since all of the markings look legitimate on this one. Douglas Brent showed us the difference with an acid test. He put the acid to this. It disappears, so would it be hard for the average eye to spot the difference? Yes, here's an easier way to make sure you can spot the scam. Never give anyone money in exchange for jewelry, because if it was really worth something, don't you think they would pawn it themselves? Makes it better for the people that are really in need. 'cause then people don't want to help them out. Police say catching these scammers is nearly impossible because people don't report what happened until days later when they find out the jewelry is fake. Instead they say if you see something. Like this happening in a parking lot or if you get approached, get in your car and call 911 right away. Time is of the essence here since the scammers will typically target parking lots that are right near a main highway for an easy getaway. And if you have a consumer story or scam that you want me to look into, Box 43 wants to find out. Let me know. Email Fox 43 finds out at fox43.com or join the Fox 43 finds out group on Facebook.
