CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Take a look at this tray of jewelry.
Can you tell which pieces are fake? Well, if you can't, Danny De La Fuente probably can.
"Gold Buyers of Texas, we've owned it for I think going on 12 years,” De La Fuente said. “We've been at this location just over four years."
De La Fuente is a jeweler and owns Gold Buyers of Texas.
He's seen his fair share of scammers, but for some reason, more folks than usual are coming into his store with fake gold and don't realize it. He believes the pandemic has something to do with it.
"They're being approached at grocery store parking lots, gas station parking lots, car washes, convenient stores,” De La Fuente said. “Perhaps, maybe it's because of COVID. I consider them con artists, because they know what they're doing."
He said about 8-to-10 people are coming in a month with fake gold. Most, being victims of scammers. One of such man, being Manny, who was approached at a gas station by someone who was selling a fake gold necklace.
"He goes 'Here, look at it,' he handed it to me and says 'it's real,'” Manny said. “He would pull it like to try to break and he bit in to it and he had his whole little show, if you will, about how real it was.”
He didn’t think he was lied to.
"It sounded legit because he was in a nice truck, he was dressed decent, like good clothes if you will and starts telling me that he needed to get back to San Antonio,” Manny added. “And that he had gone out the night before and didn't realize that he lost his wallet.”
Manny was sold.
"He goes 'all I want is $50. I don't need a full tank, I just need to get back to San Antonio.' I proceeded to gauge this card on his gas pump and he poured exactly $50 dollars of gas,” he said.
They say unfortunately, in this world, you can't trust anybody and if you're going to buy any kind of jewelry, get it from a legit vendor and make sure the piece is real.
De La Fuente said Gold Buyers of Texas checks to see if items are real for free.
To contact Gold Buyers of Texas, call 361-452-2505.
For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.
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