Chemical engineer Ibrahim Fadl, who owns a business in Manhattan's Diamond District, strips away the outer layer of a 10-ounce bar of what he thought was pure gold, sold to him by a customer at his gold refinery business.
The shell peels off like foil on a chocolate bar.
"It's got to be somebody really, really professional," said Fadl. "When I analyzed them, it showed they are tungsten."
Tungsten is a metal used to make military weaponry, drilling equipment and even jewelry. Gold and tungsten have almost the exact same density, so a substitution of metals would be difficult to detect.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Fake gold bars infiltrate precious metals market
Warning: some of your $18,000 10-ounce gold bars might actually be
filled with tungsten. Gold goes for about $1800/ounce; tungsten is
$1/ounce.
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