100 Spaniards fall victim to fake gold bars scam

Fake gold bars. | EFE

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterMallorca-International20/04/2022 10:42

At least 100 people in Spain have been scammed by a company selling fake gold bars and some of the victims were in Mallorca.

Sempi Gold, which is run by businessman Gabriel Ruiz, allegedly persuaded investors to give them money to buy the gold bars and guaranteed them a return of well over 10% on their deposit after one year.

When a Mallorcan investor, who’d given the company half-a-million euros tried to claim the profits, Sempi Gold reportedly made excuses and tried to extend the investment.

The Mallorcan investor hired a lawyer and filed a complaint against Sempi Gold and an official investigation was launched in 2019.

In March last year, the Palma court ordered simultaneous searches at Sempi Gold headquarters in Jerez, an office in Madrid and the home of Gabriel Ruiz.

The Guardia Civil confiscated 125 gold bars from Sempi Gold headquarters, which actually turned out to be made of iron, not gold.

Prosecutors representing the victims are calling for an investigation to be launched to determine whether the money that was scammed was deposited in bank accounts in Gibraltar.