Golden excitement

In recent years, gold has become a very popular protective asset not only among professional financiers, but also among the ordinary population. People “tasted” the taste of the acquisition of gold jewelry, investment coins and gold ingots in order to preserve and increase their savings. Together with the growth of demand for precious metall, problems with illegal turnover and the shadow market of gold have grown. The Ministry of Finance developed a draft resolution aimed at combating shadow transactions and to ensure the transparency of the turnover of investment coins, often used to form transit chains with subsequent cashing of money. According to the document, banks are required to collect personal data of customers for any operations (including transfer to the pledge and for responsible storage); Information on the purchase and sale of assets, on the remains of coins, on entry and withdrawal from circulation. And then - upload this information to the state information system of taking into account precious metals, precious stones and products from them (GIS DMDK).

In addition, banks, pawnshops and dealers must make sales with the mandatory use of cash registers (CCP) integrated with the GIS DMDK module. CCT is now used selectively.

The high interest of business and the population in investing in ingots and coins is largely related to the abolition in 2022 VAT on the purchase of gold by individuals. According to the World Gold Council (WGC), over the past three years, the Russians have almost seven times increased the volume of such purchases, and in 2024 they purchased 34.4 tons of precious metalla, which is 9% higher than 2023. As a result of the Russian Federation, in the ranking of countries with the greatest internal demand for gold, she rose from the tenth to eighth place. The three leaders include China (346 tons), India (239) and Turkey (112), followed by the United States (78 tons), Iran (43), Vietnam (42) and Thailand (40 tons).

At the same time (as stated in the explanatory documents to the project of the Ministry of Finance), the share of falsified products is growing on the domestic market, which undermines consumer trust in conscientious suppliers and negatively affects the economy. Back in 2023, the Central Bank identified operations to use precious metals for laundering money. The scheme was that a certain fictitious company was transferred funds, and she bought coins and handed them to the bank for cash.

Crime binding

“In Russia, all official transactions on precious metals are concerned either to ingredovs or coins,” says Alexey Vyazovsky, vice -president of the Golden Poem Payment company, in an interview with MK. - They are regulated by the Federal Law “On Precious Metals and Precious Stones”, in which amendments were recently made. So, from March 1, all market participants are required to enter data on the operations performed into the GIS DMDK system. Previously, this happened in test mode, but now - without options. But the problem is that the system is “not dopile”, primarily from the side of the monetary courtyards and their chief operator - Goznak. The main narrow place is the absence of numbers on individual coins (unlike the ingots), respectively, to tie a specific copy of the coin (for example, “George the Victorious” or “Sower”) to a specific buyer. We are numbered and thereby taking into account the party, but not a single coin.

In principle, it would be possible to allow banks and dealers to release the corresponding certificates (and without the river of old parties) and apply them to the contract of sale. By the way, the “George the Victorious” of 2025 is already with a certificate. But these coins are not license plates, only weight and sample are indicated in the certificates, there are a signature and printing of treasurer, and that’s all. So, the soil for fraud remains.

- Who is the main supplier of illegal gold to the market?

- Black prospectors. They are enough in the Far East, in the Khabarovsk Territory, in the Magadan region, where a lot of gold ore is mined. And the day does not pass so that someone is not caught with an illegally cast ingot, someone was not convicted under Article 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provides for a prison term for the illegal circulation of precious metals and precious stones. Suppose a dashing man washed a lot of gold from gold -bearing sand, and what to do with it now? You won’t take anywhere. But since gold is a fusible metal, you can get an ingot at home and even put fake rooms. Moreover, the particularly advanced craftsmen got rid of the a la “Nikolaev Golden Chervonets”, with the help of the corresponding stamps created by them. A fake of such a rarity does not bear serious risk, unlike fake Soviet and Russian gold coins: in the Criminal Code this practice is classified as counterfeiting and punishable very harshly. “Nikolaev Chervonets” bring to Moscow, to St. Petersburg and sold in parties for cash.

All these schemes do not fall under state control, enhancing the overall criminogenicity and undermining the tax base of the budget. To obtain gold on a legal basis, a person must acquire a license, fulfill all the requirements, pay driving contributions ...

- What sales channels do suppliers of counterfeit gold use?

- For example, the largest marketplaces. You can go to any of them, drive into the search line the words “buy gold coins”, and thousands of sentences will fall to you. There is no such law by which trading aggregators are obliged to demand a license for an operation with precious metals with the one who gives an announcement of sale. Meanwhile, in order to become a certified dealer company and legally conduct a business, you need to register in the federal test chamber, in GIS DMDK. And here - do what you want: a real black hole. I will tell you more: “George the Victorious” of incomprehensible origin and quality put on the marketplace Chinese sellers.

- How can ordinary consumers protect yourself from this lawlessness, not to be deceived?

- One advice: we must deal exclusively with trusted companies and banks, selling and buying gold jewelry and gold in the same place. Not only do you can brutally lock you up, give a fake, you run the risk of getting into heavy criminal binding and, as a result, lose all money, property, health, and life. Drugs, financing of terrorism, black nal, smuggling of capital - where is the line separating the shadow turnover of the “yellow metal” from these areas? Let me remind you that in January 2024 at the Moscow Airport Sheremetyevo, they stopped smuggling gold in the amount of 111 million rubles. In manual luggage in a man who tried to leave Russia, they found 25 ingots with a total weight of more than 36 kilograms.


(C) mk, George Stepanov

Author: Auditor on 04.08.2025

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