Two 17-year-old high school school students allegedly raked in nearly $60,000 selling fake gold bars on Craigslist, underscoring the importance of buying gold and silver from a reputable dealer.
Police in Bend, OR, arrested Robert Yelas Jr. and Caleb Knight on March 21, after they caught on to the scam. Investigators called Yelas the mastermind behind the online criminal enterprise. Police say the teens bought fake gold bars from aliexpress.com, an online retailer owned by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. The counterfeit bars were packaged to look like they came from the Royal Canadian Mint and Perth Mint. According to the The Bulletin, Yelas netted as much as $22,000 in one sale. He reportedly used some of the money to buy cars, including a Mercedes and an F250 pickup.
According to court documents, Yelas said after connecting with potential customers through Craigslist, he arranged the sales via email and text message, and usually sent Knight to complete the transactions in person.
This post was published at Schiffgold on APRIL 17, 2017.
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