Advertisement

Ottawa bank sells counterfeit gold bar to jeweller

The Royal Canadian Mint building in Ottawa is pictured on Sussex Drive, March 9, 2013. The Canadian Press Images / Nathalie Madore

OTTAWA – The Royal Canadian Mint says a phoney gold bar sold to a jeweller by an Ottawa bank may have looked like the real thing, but it was actually a counterfeit.

Spokesman Alex Reeves says the small gold wafer wasn’t made or sold by the Mint, although it was made to look like the real thing.

READ MORE: 2 arrested in connection to big Canadian gold coin heist: German police

RBC is investigating how the fake bullion came to be sold.

WATCH: The giant Canada 150 duck is an ‘illegal counterfeit,’ claims Dutch studio helmed by original creator

Click to play video: 'The giant Canada 150 duck is an ‘illegal counterfeit,’ claims Dutch studio helmed by original creator'
The giant Canada 150 duck is an ‘illegal counterfeit,’ claims Dutch studio helmed by original creator

The jeweller who bought the bar told a news outlet that his goldsmith knew something was wrong when he tried to put the wafer through a mill and found it was much too hard and brittle to be gold.

Story continues below advertisement

READ MORE: N.B. RCMP warn of counterfeit Canadian bills with Chinese writing

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Reeves says the Mint does not sell bullion direct to the public.

The Mint sells bullion guaranteed to be 99.99 per cent pure.

“We know that its purity is not four nines, its weight is not four nines,” he said. “The packaging has errors on it, so we knew right away that there were several things wrong with it. It could not possibly come from the Royal Canadian Mint.”

He said it’s rare for such a counterfeit to turn up.

“This is not widespread; this is a very isolated case,” Reeves said. “It didn’t come from the Mint, it’s not one of our bars. It imitates one of our bars, but that’s the extent of it unfortunately.”

It is up to the bank to investigate the problem, he said.

Sponsored content

AdChoices