FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – “We used to see these things like once a month or once a couple of times a year, but now we’re seeing it once a day almost,” said David Standal, an employee at a local pawn shop.
David Standal works at a local pawn shop and said scammers are scouting people at gas station or grocery store parking lots, convincing them they need money but only have gold to sell.
“We call it the 18 gold ring scam so it’s pretty common, people have been doing it for years,” said Standal.
Even though the scam isn’t new, he said people are still falling for it.
“Usually it’s people that are willing to help someone because they’re nice then they just get taken advantage of and they buy these rings and they think they’re going to turn it around and make some money but it’s unfortunately very fake so it’s not worth any money,” said Standal.
It’s not only rings to look out for, Standal has also seen necklaces. But, he said rings are the most popular.
“It’s something I had to explain a lot of times so it’s pretty common that people come in and I have to break the news to them. They’re usually pretty upset or heartbroken,” said Standal.
He said it’s becoming an increasing problem in the area and even throughout the state.
“We also have a lot of friends that work at other pawn shops around the area and the state and they say they’ve been seeing it like crazy too,” said Standal.
Standal said it’s difficult to decipher a fake gold ring from a real one to the untrained eye… so he advises people to not buy jewelry from people in parking lots.
He also said these fake rings are especially hard to detect due to the stamp on the inside of the ring, which usually indicates a real one.
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