A gold shop in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, recently purchased a 46-gram gold necklace which was originally claimed to be 999 gold, but further testing at the main store revealed that the actual gold content was only 70%. The necklace was found to have been adulterated with tungsten and rhodium, two metals that cannot be detected by ordinary spectrometers.
According to a report by Red Star News on April 11th, in August 2024, a gold recycling shop in Suzhou bought a 46-gram gold necklace, claiming it to be 999 gold after testing with spectrometers and other methods. The shop paid over 25,000 RMB to the seller, a man surnamed Zheng.
The next day, the shop sent the necklace to its headquarters for further inspection, where it was discovered that the actual gold content of the necklace was only 70%. The presence of tungsten and rhodium in the necklace was also revealed.
It was reported that both tungsten and rhodium have similar appearances and melting points to gold, making it difficult to distinguish through fire assay. Additionally, ordinary spectrometers are unable to detect the radiation of tungsten and rhodium, resulting in a misleading reading of “999”. Furthermore, tungsten and rhodium are much cheaper compared to gold.
It was revealed that Zheng and three others collectively sold more than 4000 grams of counterfeit gold, deceiving 72 gold shops in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and other regions.
In February of this year, Zheng and his accomplices were sentenced to prison terms ranging from seven years to one year and six months.