Chinese Gold Tungsten Counterfeiting Factory
China Tungsten
A gold bullion counterfeiting factory marketing itself online
It only takes a mouse click or an email to have gold-plated tungsten bars exported from China to any address around the world. ChinaTungsten.com advertises fabrication and delivery of a diverse range of different factory-made gold-plated tungsten bars and coins. They even do custom orders. A counterfeit 10 oz bar with enough gold plating to pass testing by traditional X-ray flourescence contains a few dollars of gold. A perfect replica kilobar that passes traditional detection methods could cost a few hundred dollars to buy from a Chinese counterfeiter, but would resell for $50000 if sold as genuine.
Photos taken from the ChinaTungsten.com website show the progression of lengths of tungsten bar to high quality copies of the 1 kilogram LeipZiger gold bars which are genuinely fabricated by respected German refiner LEV.
What ChinaTungsten.com has to say about their bullion knock-offs
“For centuries, buying gold has been recognized as one of the best ways to preserve one’s wealth and purchasing power. But the price of gold is a big problem for some people. Here we have to be recommended is tungsten alloy gold plated product–tungsten alloy golden bullion. The reason is not only for it price but also it is more valuable than any other gold-plated bullion.”
“Tungsten alloy golden bullion is real, honest money and many say the best form of money the world has ever known. It is a store of value and a safe haven in times of crisis. Gold is rare, durable and does not wear out in the manner of lesser metals (or paper!) when passed from hand to hand. A small amount, easily carried, can purchase a significant amount of goods and services. Gold-plated bullion is universally accepted, and can be easily bought and sold around the world.”
“Tungsten alloy is an environmental-friendly, durable and hardness material, the most important is that its density of 19.25g/cm3, which is just about the same density as gold (19.3g/cm3). Therefore, it is usually made use of gold substitution.”
“A top-of-the-line tungsten alloy fake gold rod should match the color, surface hardness, density, chemical, and nuclear properties of gold perfectly.”
“Start with a tungsten alloy about 1/8-inch smaller in each dimension than the tungsten alloy golden bar you want, then cast a 1/16-inch layer of real pure gold all around it. This product would feel right in the hand, and tungsten alloy golden bar would have a dead ring when knocked as gold should. Gold-plated tungsten would test right chemically, weigh exactly the right amount, and also pass an x-ray fluorescence scan, the 1/16″ layer of pure gold being enough to stop the x-rays from reaching any tungsten.”
“Detecting a high-quality tungsten fake gold bar would be extremely difficult. It would likely require significant and material alterations to the bar being tested and this would negatively affect the marketability if its hallmark veracity were vindicated.”
Fortunately, due to the affordable, convenient, simple and non-destructive technology of the ultrasonic testing, the last statement from China Tungsten is no longer true. Even the most exact copies of gold bars with a tungsten core can easily be detected by ultrasound.