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In the coronavirus pandemic, precious metal buyers may wish to invest in gold and silver coins. Are the coins a safe investment? Are the precious metals sold at reasonable value or double their actual value?

Experts state that precious metals sellers use people’s fears of market turmoil. The sellers convince buyers to invest in buying gold and silver coins. Yet, some sellers price their coins at double their actual value, which can leave investors poorer.

A former industry insider reiterated that precious metals and rare coin telemarketers would feast on the personal and economic misfortune caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Quartz has highlighted instances of precious-metals sellers using the COVID-19 scare as a sales pitch in marketing emails and Facebook ads. The underlying message seems to be quite similar to highlighting that stock markets are crashing. The writing on the wall is that other investors are rushing to safe-haven assets inciting others to follow suit.

In November, Quartz published an investigation into Metals.com, a precious-metals company that used various crises to persuade conservative seniors to invest in supposedly collectable gold and silver coins. The salespeople got customers on board by using the fears of the US immigration crisis. Some gold and silver coins they sold, citing safe alternatives to the stock market, were massively overpriced. Some were as much as 219% of the metal’s value. 

The former industry insider highlighted that during the financial crisis in 2008, many investors lost nearly half of their retirement savings. The investors were looking for a safe investment; hence they turned to precious metals. 

In today’s scenario, the 2008-2010 financial environment will pale in comparison. Michael Taylor, a financial advice columnist at the San Antonio Express-News, advised against buying precious metals as an investment. The former insider also warned against buying coins that are overpriced or modern common coins represented as “collectable” or “rare”.